Destiny
by Sweet Little Darling
Summary: Sequel to Broken Pieces. "I can't deny that I have feelings for him!" When Holly Gilbert decides to follow Klaus Mikaelson on his quest to make hybrids she begins to realize that there is more to Klaus than just cruelty. Between the Originals, a broken family, and a new rival for her affections things will never be the same. Klaus/OC/Damon.
1. Eighteen Candles

**Chapter One: Eighteen Candles**

How long had it been since she left Mystic Falls, one month, two? Holly Gilbert honestly couldn't keep track. She knew it was before school let out before summer vacation because she hadn't even taken finals.

All summer Holly Gilbert and Stefan Salvatore had been the Original Hybrid's sidekicks as they searched all over Tennessee and Atlanta for werewolves to start making his special hybrid followers that he could now have since he had done the sacrifice that had ended in the "death" of her twin, Elena Gilbert.

The main reason that Holly and Stefan had been stuck catering to Klaus every need was because Holly's boyfriend and Stefan's older brother Damon had been bitten by a wolf and Klaus had exchanged the cure for them.

The sun was just coming up in a small town in Tennessee that Holly couldn't even remember the name of it. She remember what today was. June 22. Her birthday.

Today she was officially eighteen years old, though she was stuck in the body of a seventeen year old because she was a vampire. Her cell phone buzzed, she had a new text message, she froze, and it was from Damon.

**Damon**_: Happy Birthday xox._

Holly wanted to respond so badly, but like all of his other messages, calls, and voicemails, she deleted them. It was just too dangerous. Klaus was too dangerous. Holly couldn't put him in that kind of danger again.

Holly saw that Stefan was dragging dead, bloody bodies to bury them. Over the summer thanks to Klaus, Stefan had turned into a full blown ripper.

Holly felt someone's presence behind her and she stiffen.

"Don't you have anything better to do than to spy on me?" she snapped.

"Two months as partners and you're still as grouchy as ever," Klaus smirked. "I think you should be glad that I haven't ripped out that insolent tongue of yours."

"If it means that I no longer have to be stuck to your side be my guest," she said sweetly.

"I just came to tell you that we're leaving, get your bags sweetheart."

"More non existing werewolf hunting, what joy?" The sarcasm was evident in her tone.

Klaus turned around. "I have a good feeling on this one." He rubbed her earlobe. "Don't fret love it will all be over soon." He whispered in her ear. "Happy birthday, Holly."

-End of Chapter One-

Hope you guys likes the little intro :)


	2. The Birthday

**Chapter Two: The Birthday**

Elena Gilbert walked inside the Salvatore house without bothering to knock, the sun was already becoming unbearable not to mention that the big house felt lonely with only Damon. In her hands she was holding a new lead that Sherriff Forbes had brought that morning.

"You should learn to knock," Damon Salvatore said as he came into the room. "What if I was indecent?"

"Very funny." Elena held up the piece of paper. "Sherriff Forbes gave us another location to check. It's in Tennessee."

"Another dead end you mean." There was anger and hurt in Damon's voice, two months had passed and there were still no closer to finding Holly or his baby brother. Damon had called and texted her, but Holly hadn't picked up once.

Elena looked discouraged. "You don't know that."

"You're right, Elena this could be the one. After almost two months this could be the one that tells us that Holly and Stefan have been in paradise all along and sipping drinks with Klaus."

"Fine." Elena huffed. "I'll go by myself."

Damon snatched the paper away. "And let Klaus know that you're still alive, no thanks."

"It's a new lead, Damon we haven't had one in a while."

Damon sighed. "Fine, I'll check it out but don't get your hope up."

* * *

"Damn it, Klaus what the hell is taking so long?" Holly leaned back against her seat and looked back at the pretty two story house that was by now thanks to Stefan covered in blood and trying to ignored the screams coming from the two women inside.

She honestly didn't know why Klaus used tortured to get information, she also didn't know why this guy Ray something was so damn important. This was not the way she envision spending her birthday.

Usually she spend it with her twin, but since Klaus couldn't know that she was alive, Holly would have to make do with a pity party all by herself. She looked back and saw Klaus coming her way and smirking at her.

"Well, that was delightful." He said as he slid into the passenger seat.

Holly turned to him slightly. "Did you get the information you wanted?"

"More or less." Klaus said as he tugged back a curl, while Holly tried not to flinch and let herself be intimidated. "Oh, don't worry sweetheart, I wouldn't kill you on your birthday speaking of birthdays take the night off."

Holly looked confused as she studied his face. "Seriously?"

Klaus shrugged. "Now why do you sound surprise? I'm not a monster, Holly." Holly snorted. "But even though I have lived a 1000 years I do know the importance of birthdays and eighteen is a big birthday. So go out and have some fun. Just be back in the morning."

* * *

Elena's birthday party that Caroline Forbes had planned wasn't even over yet and she was ready to tear her hair out. She went into Damon's room for a little space.

"It's occupied!"

"Caroline?"

"Sorry," Caroline was holding a blood bag. "I just needed to take a break. Are you hiding?"

She shook her head. "I'm looking for Damon."

"Well, I hope he's still here because we haven't done the cake yet."

Elena winced. "I think I'm going to pass on the whole cake thing."

Caroline's eyes widened. "No, you can't. It's the dawn of a new era and you can't move on until you blow out the candles and make a wish."

"Is that what everyone wants me to do?" Elena replied. "Move on with my life? I'm not going to give up on finding Holly and Stefan."

"No, of course not." Caroline's eyebrows furrowed. "But you have to admit that you're kind of letting your life pass you."

"You want me to make a wish, I just want to know that they are alive, that's my wish," Elena stopped short when she saw Damon's closet it was covered in maps and old newspaper clippings.

"What is all that?"

"It's Klaus." Elena gulped. "He's been tracking him without me."

"Why wouldn't he just tell you?"

"I don't know."

* * *

Holly knew that this was a stupid idea, but she had to see him, at least once and it was her birthday from crying out loud. So she had answered back and texted him and asked him to meet her halfway. She could fear her heart tingling with anticipation as she saw a black, leather jacket exiting from the blue car at the same time that she exited her own.

"Damon-"she barely got out his name before Damon wrapped his arms around her in a hug. He could smell her familiar scent of vanilla and mint while she could smell his musky cologne.

He kissed her roughly. "You shouldn't have-"he said meaning the fact that Stefan and Holly had decided to follow Klaus in exchanged for the cure.

"I means you're alive," Holly whispered. "That's all that matters. Would you have done it for me?"

He nodded.

"Then you know why I did it," she pulled back. "Damon, I don't have a lot of time, Klaus will be expecting me back soon and it's a long way-"

"Don't." he shook his head. "Don't go back, just stay."

"I can't." Holly bit her lip. "He'll kill me, he'll kill anyone that I have ever even said hi too, and it's too risky. I can't. That why I came back, you need to move on and I wanted to say goodbye."

Damon's jaw tightened. "No, I won't let you and Stefan become Klaus' prisoners for the rest of your lives and for me."

"Damon," she choked out. "Let me go, let me say goodbye."

In a minute, she was gone.

* * *

Stefan exited the bar, his hands were still smeared with blood and wolfsbane, but Klaus was happy and he had gotten the answers he needed from the wolf, Ray Sutton so that was all that matter. Today was Elena's birthday as well, god how he missed her, how he wanted to hear her voice.

Against his better judgment, he dialed her number.

"Hello?" Elena answered. "Hello? Stefan, Stefan if it's you, you'll be ok. I love you, Stefan don't forget that."

* * *

"Where have you've been?" Holly stopped short when she heard Klaus, she discreetly hid her car keys in her purse and tried to maintain an innocent face which was easier said than done.

"You told me that I could celebrate my birthday, so I did." She said. "I went to go celebrate it." She had only been gone for a few hours and she had practically ran through every red light just to make it there in time. "Problem?"

Klaus ran a hand through her cheek and she jumped.

"So jumpy," Holly didn't say anything. "Don't take me for a fool, Holly I will always know what you're up to."

-End of Chapter Two-


	3. The Hybrid

**Chapter Three: The Hybrid**

Holly, Stefan, and Klaus were hiking through the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee going to God knows where, Holly hadn't bothered to ask, in fact she had been avoiding Klaus all day. What he had said to her last night still sent chills down her spine. How much did he know? Did he know that Holly had seen Damon?

Holly hadn't even told Damon much, but over the summer she had known how paranoid Klaus could be.

Stefan grunted as he carried an unconscious Ray over his shoulders.

"Is Ray getting too heavy?" Klaus inquired. "We've been walking for a while, if you need to sit down-"

"I'm fine." Stefan said sharply. "I know that we're stuck together, but that does not mean that we're friends."

Klaus rolled back his shoulders and said tauntidly. "So much brooding between you and Holly's pity party it's becoming suffocating."

"Well, maybe we're getting tired of hunting werewolves all summer," Holly said irritably, speaking up for the first time. "What is it that you're trying to do?"

"Not to worry, sweetheart thanks to our pal Ray your suffering is over," They paused in front of a group of people that were camping. "We found ourselves a wolf pack."

Stefan dropped Ray on the ground and a woman rushed towards him. "Oh, my god Ray what happened? Who are you?"

"Please forgive my intrusion. My name is Klaus."

The woman took a step back. "You're the hybrid."

Klaus looked around the campground. "So you heard of me? Fantastic." He smirked. "It's fascinating really a wolf who isn't cursed by the moon a vampire that can walk in the sun. A true hybrid."

Ray suddenly woke up and looked around confused.

"Excellent timing, Ray very dramatic."

"What is happening to me?"

"Stefan?"

Stefan grabbed Ray by the collar and forced him up. "He needs human blood to complete the transition. Are any of you human? He needs to drink some blood or he will die."

"Just a sip." Klaus whispered in Holly's ear. "Pick one, sweetheart which one shall be Ray's dinner?"

Holly held in a breath as she pointed to a man. "That one."

"Go for it."

Holly rushed towards the man that she had just sign his death sentence too and bit him in the neck, until he was gushing blood. She pressed the man's neck against Ray's awaiting mouth trying to ignore the guilt.

"It's the new order sweetheart either you join us or you die." Klaus said as he pressed a woman werewolf to the floor.

"I rather die than become a vampire!"

"Wrong choice." Klaus bit his wrist and forced some blood in the woman's mouth. "She'll thank me for it later." He snapped her neck and looked around the group, his eyes were bright yellow. "Now whose next?"

In seemed like hours as Stefan, Holly, and Klaus force fed blood into the wolves and killed them and waited until they woke up into hybrids. There was only one human at camp and he was the human blood bag.

"Ok, mate," Klaus patted the human on the shoulder. "We're going to need you when the rest of them wake up."

"They're dead," Ray cried out as he looked at his fallen friends. "They are all dead."

"He is through with his transition," Klaus smiled. "He should be feeling better soon."

"So this is your great plan?" Holly crossed her arms over her chest. "Built an army of hybrid slaves."

"Not slaves, love soldiers."

Stefan looked confused. "For what war?"

"That's the point Stefan, you big an army so big no one dares picks a fight." He cocked his head. "It's not hard to be loyal when you're on the winning team, you'll understand soon enough when you stop being all depressive."

Stefan let out a dry laugh. "So that's why you're keeping us around to see if we can get an attitude adjustment?"

"You'll find out soon enough," Klaus frowned when he saw that Ray's eyes were bleeding. "Something is wrong."

Holly frowned. "That shouldn't be happening should it?"

"Well, obviously." Klaus snapped.

"You said I was going to feel better." Ray groaned.

"Some master race," Stefan scoffed.

"Lose the attitude," Klaus snarled as he looked at the awaking men and women in transition. "Derek, come feed on your girlfriend."

Ray gave a low groan as he tried to leave, but Stefan push him to the ground, but Ray managed to leave quickly. Both Holly and Stefan frowned when with their vampire hearing they heard voices. Damon and Elena, what the hell were they doing here? If Klaus caught them, they were dead.

"Where did he go?" Klaus demanded, he saw him werewolf bite. "The fatal bite, ouch."

"Yeah, I need you to heal me."

"I will, right after you find Ray."

Stefan gave him a tight lipped smile and looked at Holly and nodded once. Holly nodded, understanding the message, distract Klaus.

* * *

Before they knew it, it was night and the werewolves haven't been transforming into hybrids and Klaus' temper was horrible. Holly watched sitting upon a rock as he killed every last werewolf. "End of the road for you." He looked around and saw that all of their eyes were bleeding. "Bloody hell. Why are they all dying out, I did everything that I had to do, I killed the doppelganger."

Holly looked uncomfortable. "I'm tired Klaus." Why wasn't Stefan back yet?

"Then go back to the camp, Holly, I'll wait for Stefan." Klaus said tightly.

* * *

Damon was walking through the woods, looking over his shoulder for the maniacal werewolf. The important thing is that Alaric and Elena had left safety, this rescue mission was turning into a mess. Ray was about to rush towards him, but Stefan pulled out his heart.

Damon looked surprise. "Fancy seeing you here."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Stefan demanded. "Didn't Holly warn you, don't follow us, and it's dangerous."

"Yeah, I heard her," Damon said. "Got all weepy too, I think she's been hanging around with you too much and FYI if you want us to stop looking for you and Holly you better stop with the late night visits and phone calls."

Stefan shook his head and lied. "I didn't call Elena, why don't you take her home and keep her there this time. Holly and I are not coming back anytime soon, so stop wasting your time."

"Stefan," Damon said irritably. "Fine, be stubborn but do me a favor watch over Holly and don't let Klaus sink his clutches."

He nodded. "Take care of Elena."

* * *

_Holly was walking through the forest, the same forests in Mystic Falls. "Holly?" She turned around and saw Elena. In the back of her were a dozen wolves with the same gold eyes as Klaus._

"Holly, Holly wake up," Stefan shook her awake as Holly sat up from her sleeping bag.

Holly pushed back her dark hair. "Oh my god, oh god." Her entire body was shaking.

"What is it?" Stefan frowned. "Did you have another dream?"

She nodded slowly. "I saw Elena and in the back of her there were wolves with the same yellow eyes as Klaus. I think the only way that Klaus will be able to make hybrids is if Elena is truly dead."

-End of Chapter Three-

Thanks for your reviews!


	4. The End of the Affair

**Chapter Four: The End of the Affair**

"Finally, civilization!" Holly cried out once the buildings came into view, she was so sick of trees and forest and she would be happy if she didn't have to see another nature site ever again. She was sick of werewolves.

"Welcome to Chicago," Klaus turned to Stefan. "Bring any memories of the good old ripper days in the 1920's"

"I don't know." Stefan said coldly. "I blacked out on most of them."

"Well, that's a crying shame the details are what made them memorable," he turned to them. "Going down to business then?"

"Were are we going?" Holly asked as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Your hybrids failed, don't you want to do something I don't know worthwhile."

"Oh, I'm not done with my plan yet, love." Klaus said as if it should have been obvious. "The fun is just beginning, we're going to see my favorite witch, and if someone can help us she can."

Stefan and Holly exchanged nervous looks as they entered an old bar in the center of the city, Stefan's features relaxed as he looked around. "This place is still here?"

"You've got to be kidding me," Gloria stepped out. "I remember you."

"Gloria." Stefan said remembering her name. "Shouldn't you be-"

"Old and dead?" Gloria laughed. "I managed to slow down the aging with some herbs and spells, but the age will come back to haunt me, now I see you brought a guest."

Klaus put his hands on Holly's shoulder. "Gloria, I'd like you to meet the dead doppelganger's sister, Holly Gilbert. She and Stefan have been my little companions for the summer."

Holly forced a smile. "Pleasure."

"Why don't you and Stefan go fix us a drink while I talk to Gloria about our current situation?"

Grudgingly, Stefan and Holly found their way to the bar. "Stefan, can you hand me the whisky?" Holly asked a she grabbed a couple of shot glasses.

"Sure." He was about to give her the bottle when he froze. He grabbed a picture and without bothering to turn to Holly he faced Klaus and waved the picture at him. It was a picture of him and Klaus laughing. "What is this? Why am I here with you?"

Klaus simply smiled. "I told you, Stefan, Chicago is a magical place."

"That doesn't make any sense why don't I remember you." Stefan's voice tightened. "If I knew you why didn't you say anything?"

"I'm a little busy right now memory lane will have to wait," Stefan gripped his arm and Klaus glared at him. "Fine, let's just say that we didn't get off to a brilliant start, to be honest I hated you."

* * *

"You have a sister?" Holly questioned as she followed Klaus and Stefan into a basement. "There are more of you?"

"A lot of us, but that's another story for another time," he approached a coffin and pulled it open, inside was a blond girl wearing a flapper style dress.

"I don't recognize her." Stefan said as he looked at the blond girl.

Klaus removed the dagger. "Well, don't tell her that Rebekah's temper is even worse than mine." He grew impatient. "Any day now, Rebekah, she's being dramatic."

"Look, why don't you just tell me why you want me here?" Stefan asked. "I mean you obviously want me here for a reason, Holly is only a few months old, so she can't defend you that well."

Klaus shrugged. "You have many useful talents, to be fair I learned some of my favorite tricks from you. I was your number one fan, the way that you tortured humans was simply inspiring."

"And why should I believe any of this?"

Klaus ignored him as he compelled the man who had led them there. "When she wakes up, tell her to meet us at Gloria's bar and then offer up your artery and let her feed until you die." He turned to Holly. "You stay with Gloria sweetheart, this is a little bonding time for Stefan and me."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "And where are you two going to boy bond?"

"To Stefan's old apartment."

* * *

"Where's Rebekah?" Holly asked as she, Stefan, and Klaus sat at the bar later that evening. "She should be here by now." Not that Holly was in any hurry to tell Klaus that Elena was very much alive.

"She will be here soon, don't worry." He turned to Stefan. "Now why are you pouting?"

"Why did you compel me to forget?"

Klaus flinched a bit. "All good things must come to an end, it was time for Rebekah and me to move on."

Holly snorted into her drink. "You sound just like Katherine, if I didn't know better I would say that you were running from someone-"

"Story time is over." Klaus said sharply.

"I need another drink," Stefan said suddenly as he stood up. "A real one."

* * *

"Ease up on the drinks love," Klaus told Holly who was putting down her fifth shot. "We both know that you don't handle your liquor well."

"After being stuck with you all summer believe me I've built up a tolerance." Holly snapped back.

Klaus gave her a small smile, but it soon vanished. "I've seen that they've opened this place to the rirraff now. You don't give up do you?"

Holly nearly choked on her drink, Damon was standing there with his usual smirk. "Oh, honey I've been called worse, hey ex-girlfriend."

"Damon?" she managed to say. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to talk to Klaus, offer him a little deal to see if he gives you and Stefan back and bonus he will never have to see any of us again."

Klaus put his glass down. "Careful, mate I promised Stefan and Holly that I wouldn't hurt you, but since you're clearly here I assume that you want to die, so-"

"What can I say?" Damon said ignoring Holly's constant head shake behind Klaus. "I'm a thrill seeker."

Klaus grabbed him by the throat and pinned him to the wall, he pulled out a carved little knife. "I'm a little boozy, so excuse me if I miss the first few tries-"

"Klaus, stop." Holly said sharply. "Leave him alone."

Both men ignored her. "Forget Stefan and Holly," Damon choked out. "I'm a much better wingman."

"When I'm done with them, they won't want to go back."

Seeing that Damon and Klaus weren't going to stop and knowing that she was going to pay later, Holly broke Klaus neck.

"Damon, go!" Holly said. "Go, please."

With one last look at her, he forced himself up and left.

* * *

"Do that to me again and I'll rip your head off," Klaus snapped at Holly hours later. "Though you should be pretty pleased with yourself you saved your boyfriend."

"And prevented you from breaking a promise to Stefan." Holly raised an eyebrow. "And believe me, I've been wanting to do that all summer."

Klaus ignored her as he walked into the storage room. "Rebekah, where are you? It's your big brother-"

"Go to hell, Nik!" Rebekah suddenly jabbed the dagger inside Klaus' chest.

"Don't pout," Klaus said as he removed the dagger. "You knew it wouldn't hurt me."

"Yes, but I was hoping it would hurt more," her eyes narrowed when she landed on Holly. "You! Katerina!"

Rebekah pounced forward to attack her, but Klaus held her back. "Calm yourself, sister. This is not Katerina. This is the dead doppelganger's sister Holly Gilbert."

Rebekah didn't look impress.

"Though I did bring you something else," Stefan came in and there was a happy smile on her face. "Now remember."

"Rebekah," Stefan said lightly. "We were friends."

"We are friends." Klaus corrected. "Now why you're here, Gloria tells me you have what we need to contact the Original Witch hand it over."

Rebekah touched her neck and frowned. "Where's my necklace? Where is it?"

"I don't know." Rebekah started searching her coffin. "Tell me that, that is not what she needs Rebekah!"

-End of Chapter Four-


	5. Disturbing Behavior

**Chapter Five: Disturbing Behavior**

"Zip me up," Rebekah instructed to Holly as she zipped up the gold dress, the tenth dress that she had tried out even since they had walked through the door. After insisting that she needed new clothes to fit in, Rebekah had dragged everyone to the nearest boutique and since Holly was the only other girl in the group, she was practically her lady's maid or something.

She looked disgusted. "There has to be more to this dress."

"There's not," Holly pointed to her own shorts. "Everything is miniature."

Rebekah rolled her eyes. "In the twenties I got dirty looks for wearing trousers, apparently its ok for women in the 21st century to dress like a prostitutes."

She walked out of the dressing room and her frown deepened. "And what is this? It sounds like a cable car accident?"

"Its music," Stefan offered from where he was sipping champagne with Klaus. "Dance music."

"People dance to this?" Rebekah said in a wonderes tone. She noticed that Klaus had a frown on his face. "And why are you so grumpy?"

"I needed one thing from you to find out why my hybrids were dying and you lost your necklace."

"I didn't lose it." She snapped. "It's just been missing for 90 years. What do you think?"

"I like it," Stefan said in an unconvincing tone.

Rebekah stomped her foot. "You're lying, I can always tell when you're lying Stefan."

Stefan stood up, obviously bored with shopping. He set down the champagne glass on the table. "I'm going to get some fresh air, I'll meet you back at Gloria's."

* * *

"You left us," Rebekah pouted at Stefan once he arrived at Gloria's bar an hour later. Rebekah was dressed in her new clothes which consisted of a white top and black shorts. Gloria was sitting across from her while Klaus and Holly were sitting at the side.

"Yeah, retail therapy was giving me a headache," Stefan noticed that Gloria was chanting. What is she doing?"

"Failing," came Klaus' answer.

"It's hard to find something when you don't have anything to go on," Gloria said with an edge to her voice.

Rebekah leaned her hand forward. "So use me, I only wore it for a 1000 years." Gloria took her hand and made a small cut in the middle and started chanting again.

Holly sucked in her cheeks nervously. "So, um that should tell her where the necklace is isn't it?" No one answered her.

"I found it." Gloria said.

"Where is it?" Rebekah asked eagerly.

She shook her head. "It doesn't work like that doll, I get images a girl with her friends."

She frowned. "Yes, a dead girl with dead friends if I don't get my necklace back."

Gloria shook her head. "I need more time, and more space," she said glaring in Klaus' direction. Klaus glared back.

"How about we get a bite to eat?" Holly suggested as she stood up. "Suddenly, I'm starving."

* * *

"There you are," Rebekah said at Holly who had been staring at the family coffins, she knew that Elijah was in one of them. "Klaus was looking for you, but like always he got distracted by one of his witches." She noticed that Holly was staring at the coffins. "Morbid isn't it?"

"Why don't you just undagger them?" she asked. "They're your family, I'm sure you must miss them. I know I would."

Rebekah softened. "Because Klaus would chase me to the ends of the world and kill me, he's a vindictive bastard my brother."

"I can related," she said as she sat next to her. "Not about the paranoid, vindictive part, but I have siblings too and I know that they can be a hassle, but you still love them."

Rebekah gave her a small smile. "Well, siblings can be exhausting. I'm sorry about your dead sister. My brother is an ass. He will do anything for power."

She nodded. "Klaus told Stefan and me an interesting story while you were here in the twenties he said you guys were happy, but that you were force to run. I guess I just have a hard time believing Klaus Mikaelson being afraid of anything."

She shook her head. "No one in this world is truly fearless, Holly not even my brother."

"Who was he?" she asked. "The man you were running away from?"

Rebekah didn't answer and instead changed the topic. "My brother told me what you and Stefan did, you sacrifice yourselves to save his brother and your boyfriend. You must have really liked him."

Holly nodded, thinking of Damon. "I did. I mean I still do."

"You're lucky then," Rebekah said softly. "I wish I loved someone the way you love Stefan's brother."

"Gloria's gone, we need to clear out and find a new witch," Klaus stared at them. "What's going on?"

"She's not with us, Nik," Rebekah said suddenly. "And neither is Stefan, I can feel it, she asked about Mikael she knows something."

Klaus flashed towards Holly and gripped the back on her skull.

"I haven't compelled you out of politeness," Klaus gripped the back of her head. "But politeness goes only so far. What do you know that I don't?" he said compelling her.

"Elena is alive," she said in a monotype voice. "And still living in Mystic Falls."

There was a scowl on Klaus' face.

"Klaus, please let me-"but Holly didn't finish because at that point he snapped her neck.

* * *

Holly woke up slowly, she opened her eyes and saw that Stefan was next to her. She looked up and saw Klaus. She leaned back against the door of the truck.

"Easy love, no need to be frightened," Klaus said. "I'm not mad, just curious. How much of a fool do you think I am? You're not a very good liar, Holly and I suspected that something was wrong the minute you went to visit that Salvatore brother. I don't need your pathetic explanations."

Holly didn't respond.

He opened the trunk door. "Welcome back to Mystic Falls, Holly."

-End of Chapter Five-


	6. The Reckoning

**Chapter Six: The Reckoning**

"Where are we going?" Holly demanded at Klaus dragged her along the corridors of Mystic Falls high school. Stefan had stayed back with Rebekah while he woke up.

"To pay a visit to your not so dearly departed sister," Klaus opened the door and came face to face with Elena. "There's my girl."

"Elena, run!" Holly shouted.

To her credit, Elena tried to run as fast as she could, but Klaus easily catch up to her and grabbed her arm. "You're supposed to be dead, now what are we going to do about that?"

Elena whimpered as Klaus dragged both of them towards the gym. "You put a rather kink in my plan sweetheart, you're supposed to be dead and that's why my hybrids aren't working. Now your sister and Stefan may have been able to keep this charade hidden, but I won't be fooled any longer."

"If you're going to kill me, just kill me." She said weakly.

"Oh, I will, but I do have ways in making both of you suffer," they entered the gym and saw several students putting pranks for prank night. "Attention students, prank night is over. Head on home." He stopped short when he saw two students. "You two stay here. Lift your foot up, please."

The girl did as she was told.

Klaus turned towards the boy. "If she drops her foot beat her to death, understood?"

"Klaus, you don't have to do this!" Holly hissed.

Klaus turned to her. "Of course I do, love." He turned to compel her. "Now I want you to stand still and not do anything until I tell you too."

Holly stiffen, but was forced to do as she was told.

Elena turned to him. "Where's Stefan what have you done with him?"

"Stefan's on a time out," the gym doors burst open as Matt and Bonnie came in. "I was wondering when you were going to show up."

"Holly?" Bonnie inquired.

"Bon, get out of here." She managed to say.

"No, Bonnie please stay," Klaus said. He turned towards the girl and boy. "Ok, you two rest, I see that you're the reason Elena is alive."

"Yes, if you want to blame someone, blame me."

"Oh, there's no need for that love, you caused a problem and now I need you to fix it."

Rebekah entered holding Tyler.

"Get off me!" Tyler demanded.

"Hush, now."

"I'd like all of you to meet my sister, Rebekah," Klaus said. "Word of warning she can be quite mean."

Rebekah scowled. "Don't be an ass." She threw Tyler towards Klaus.

"Leave him alone!" Elena shouted.

"I'm going to make this very simple, every time I try to make a hybrid they die in transition." He bit into his wrist and force fed Tyler some of his blood. He broke his neck. "And for his sake you better hurry."

* * *

"He killed him," Matt choked out as he looked at Holly. "I know that you're a vampire and I know what you did to Vicki."

"Matt-"Holly said quickly. "I never meant too, I'm sorry-"

"Enough with the pity party and the lame apologies, Bonnie and Matt is it, go look for Bonnie's grimore and a spell." Klaus said as they started to leave. "I'll hold on to Holly and Elena for safekeeping."

Rebekah studied Elena. "So this is the newest doppelganger, the original one was much prettier."

"Enough, Rebekah." Klaus said. "Take the wolf boy somewhere else."

Klaus whispered in her ear. "Don't pay attention to her, petty little thing."

* * *

The doors swung open again, only this time it turned out to be Stefan. "Stefan," Elena choked out.

"Come to save your damsel mate?"

"I came to ask for your forgiveness and pledge my loyalty." Stefan said. "Elena means nothing to me."

"We'll you already broke it once, why should I trust you?" Klaus cocked his head. "Fine, show me then, kill them." He said pointed towards the boy and girl.

Elena shook her head. "No, Stefan he already said he wouldn't hurt me-"Klaus interrupted her by slapping her across the face.

Stefan pounced on him.

"She doesn't mean anything to you, does she? The lies just keep piling up!"

"Stop it, Klaus leave Elena alone, don't hurt her! Leave all of us alone!" Holly snapped.

Klaus grabbed her chin and compelled her. "You are really annoying me right now, love. Go back to the truck and wait for me there, I'll deal with you there."

Holly gulped as she exited the gym, as soon as she was out of an earshot she grabbed her phone. "Damon?"

"Holly, where the hell are you?"

"I'm at the school, Klaus knows," Holly gulped. "Where are you?"

Damon didn't respond for a moment. "With Katherine."

"What the hell are you doing with Katherine?"

"She knows of a way to stop Klaus-"

"Never mind," she said. "Just get here, he's compelled me and Elena and Stefan are in danger."

* * *

"Well, the verdict's in," Klaus said as he stepped inside an old abandoned, science classroom. "The original witch says that the doppelganger should be dead."

"Good." Rebekah said happily. "Does that mean that I can kill her?"

"Actually I think it means the opposite." Klaus snorted. "Call it a hunch." He grabbed a tube filled with Elena's blood while Rebekah held back Caroline.

"Elena's blood drink it."

"No, no, no." Caroline shouted.

"If he doesn't feed he'll die anyway love, consider this an experiment."

Tyler struggled for a bit, but managed to drink the blood. He let out a low whine as his fangs came out and his eyes turned yellow.

Klaus smiled. "Well, that's a good sign."

* * *

"Where's Elena?" Holly demanded as soon as Klaus approach her over an hour later. "What did you do to her, Klaus?"

"Relax, Elena is making a friendly donation at the local hospital, fun fact her blood is the key to making hybrids. But we're not here to talk about Elena," he pinned her by the throat. "I came to talk about you, somehow your betrayal hurt more that Stefan's now what are we going to do about that."

Holly digged her fingernails into Klaus' arm, but he was immediately thrown off balance by Damon.

"Well, look who finally showed up to the party," Klaus said as he watched Damon in the ground. "Another Salvatore brother coming to save his girl. You know I should kill both you and Holly for your interference, but then again I suppose I could use Holly as bait against Elena, you on the other hand-"

Klaus pinned Damon against a truck.

Damon struggled to breath, but managed to say. "Don't you want to know about your friend, Mikael?"

"What do you know about Mikael?"

"Just that he knows you're here."

"You're bluffing."

"No, Katherine and I found him." Damon said. "Consider it our leverage." Fear passed though Klaus' face as he quickly left.

Holly hurried to help him up. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Damon pressed a hand against her cheek. "Are you?"

She nodded. "Let's go find Elena."

* * *

"How's Elena?" Damon asked later that night as he gave Holly a glass of scotch.

"Better," she said. "Klaus didn't take enough blood, but we still have other problems to deal with."

"Where do you want to start?" Damon groaned. "The fact that little brother Jeremy can see ghosts, Klaus, Elena the blood bag-"

"And ripper Stefan." Holly interrupted. "Klaus made Stefan turn off his emotions."

Damon gulped guiltily.

"Hey is going to be ok," she whispered a she kissed him. "We'll figure out a way to end this. All of this."

"You sound so confident." He murmured.

The door opened and Stefan came in. "Well, don't you two look cozy."

"What are you doing here brother?"

"This is my house too and I was ordered to protect Elena, by orders from Klaus." Stefan smiled. "But by all means carry on."

-End of Chapter Six-


	7. Smells Like Teen Spirit

**Chapter Seven: Smells Like Teen Spirit**

"I don't want to go to school," Holly whined towards Damon as he helped her into her navy blue jacket. "Why am I going again instead of being with you? I mean, it's not like I need high school."

"Well, unless you want Sherriff Forbes knocking down my door, you better go to school," Damon smirked. "Besides you're a senior now, aren't you even the tiniest bit excited."

Holly rolled her eyes playfully. "I'm not Caroline." After a second she said. "Maybe a little."

"Can you two please take the make out session outside please?" Stefan said as he came into the room. "It's getting really tedious."

Before either of them could respond, the doors opened again and this time Rebekah came in holding dozens of shopping bags. "He left me here, my brother actually left me here!"

"Who the hell are you?" Damon demanded.

Holly cleared her throat. "Damon this is Klaus' sister, Rebekah. Rebekah this is-"

"Ah, yes Damon your Romeo and the other Salvatore," Rebekah turned to Stefan. "Which one is my room?"

Stefan laughed. "You're not staying here."

When no one responded she pursed her lips. "Rude all of you, I'll see to it myself." And she left with her bags.

Holly groaned as she grabbed her bag. "Suddenly, school doesn't seem so bad."

* * *

Holly looked at the campus that was filled with kids, she could feel some of her old excitement coming back to her. She was a senior now, and yes they had a horrible year, but that didn't mean that it had to be horrible.

"We're all here together," Caroline said smiling as they walked towards the entrance. "Me, Bonnie, Elena, and Holly. Senior year."

Bonnie put her hands on her hips. "Anyone else thinks that this should feel slightly more empowering."

Holly snorted. "What were you expecting balloons and confetti?"

"Also maybe roses." Bonnie said with a smile.

"Ok," Caroline said exasperated. "So prank night was a bust, but we are accepting it and we're moving on."

"You're right," Bonnie said with fake enthusiasm. "Why should I let the fact that my boyfriend is seeing his ex-girlfriend hinder this experience?"

"You're right," Holly said sarcastically and made a mental note to speak to Jeremy about the whole Anna-Vicki business, so far he was avoiding her. "And why I should I get freaked out that Klaus' sister is staying and may or may not be trying to spy on me."

"Right," Caroline said with faker cheerfulness. "And why should I let the fact that my boyfriend was turned into a hybrid put a damper on an otherwise fabulous day."

Elena stopped short and spoke up. "Today is our anniversary," she continued. "Technically, Stefan and I meet on the first day of school."

The girls exchanged looks, Holly looked at the bite mark that she had hidden with a scarf. "You sure you want to be here?"

"I have to put it behind me," Elena forced a smile. "New Year, new life."

* * *

Holly looked around Alaric's old classroom as she entered the room, it had been months since she had been here before she had left with Klaus. It was just like she had remember it, she heard people talking about the bonfire and she wondered if they were going tonight, she honestly just wanted to stay home and catch up to what Damon had been too all summer.

"Good morning, Mr. Saltzman," Holly lowered her voice. "Sorry, I didn't come home last night."

"We'll talk later," Alaric whispered. "Welcome back, Holly."

As Holly slipped into her chair she noticed that Stefan practically pushed another student out of a chair in order to sit next to Elena, apparently he was taking his bodyguard role seriously.

"Welcome back students," Alaric said. "Let's turn our brains backs to the country's original founders, the Native Americans."

"What about the Vikings?" said a chirpy voice as Rebekah came inside.

Alaric looked confused. "There's actually no evidence that Vikings settled in the United States, who are you?"

"Rebekah." Rebekah smiled as she slid into a chair. "And history is my favorite subject."

* * *

The rest of the day went by smoothly much to Holly's relief and even though Rebekah was in a few of her classes she hadn't once caused trouble. Holly headed towards the football stadium, where she decided to use the time to catch up on her assignments while she waited for Caroline to finish her cheerleading practice.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Caroline asked Rebekah from where she was stretching. "You can't just come here and ruin our lives."

Rebekah stood up as said coldly. "I'm only interested in yours, your spunk, your popularity, maybe even your boyfriend."

"Is there a problem?" Holly interrupted.

Both girls didn't take their eyes off each other, "No," Rebekah said. "As soon as she stops being such a nuisance everything will be swell." She walked away.

"You can't let her get to you." Holly told Caroline. "You will only provoke her more."

"I know," Caroline said frustrated. "It's so hard though, did you know that she's giving Tyler blood bags and now she's trying to take over our lives? I didn't ask for this."

* * *

After practice and once it was clear that Stefan was going to be hard to deal with everyone meet in Alaric's classroom to formulate a plan.

"I'll lure Stefan away from the bonfire." Elena said.

"And I'll shoot him," Alaric said as he turned to Caroline. "Is the Forbes cell ready?"

Caroline nodded.

"But we still need to worry about Rebekah," Damon grumbled. "You keep forgetting that wherever Stefan goes the blond tends to follow."

Holly crossed her arms over her chest knowing that Damon was going to hate her for suggesting this. "Well, then it will be your job to keep her distracted use your . . . charm."

Damon looked at her as if she were crazy. "Before or after she pulls my heart out?"

Holly didn't have a chance to respond, because at that moment Tyler came into the room. "Hey, what do you want me to do?"

"We need you to get your mom's vervain supply," Elena told him. "We need to keep Stefan down."

Tyler frowned. "You can't do that to Stefan, it's not it Klaus' best interest."

Caroline frowned as everyone else looked confused. "Tyler, Klaus is the bad guy remember? Why are you acting like some freaky hybrid minion?"

"Uh oh," Damon grumbled.

Alaric looked confused. "What?"

"Klaus made me who I am, Caroline." Tyler said as if it should have been obvious. "I owe him everything."

Holly looked at Damon. "What's going on?"

Damon didn't answer as he jabbed a vervain dart in Tyler's neck causing him to fall unconscious. "What did you do?" Caroline shrieked.

"He's been sired," Damon explained. "Klaus' blood created him and he feels loyal to Klaus, he'll seek acceptance from Klaus."

Caroline looked at him. "So how do I fix him?"

"Get a new boyfriend."

* * *

The bonfire was just like every year, Holly though, the same drunk students, the same cheap beer, the same awful food. She couldn't believe that at some point she had thought all of this was fun. She took a sip of her beer and watched as Damon worked her charm on Rebekah, she couldn't help, but feel jealous.

She knew that Damon was only flirting to distract her, but that didn't mean that it hurt any less. Even if it was her own stupid idea.

"Someone is jealous," Stefan said as he walked towards Holly and looked at Damon and Rebekah. "My brother has his flirt on."

"It's really none of your business."

Stefan had an amused look on his face. "Oh, come on Holly you didn't really think he was going to be loyal did you? I'm surprise he's lasted with you this long."

Holly scowled at him as she walked away. "When you're a ripper you can be a real jerk."

Her phone rang and she picked it up, it was a text from Elena.

**Elena:**_The plan is in motion, be ready._

* * *

Holly saw as Elena and Alaric dragged an unconscious Stefan, apparently the plan had worked. Holly opened the trunk of Alaric's car and helped Elena get him into the trunk of the car.

"Wait here," Holly said to Alaric as she closed the door. She tried to turn the car on, but it didn't work, suddenly she smelled smoke, the car was starting to burn up.

"Holly," Elena screamed. "What's happening?"

"I don't know," she shouted back. What the hell had happened? Her thoughts were filled by both Alaric and Elena's screams. She didn't noticed that Vicki's ghost was sitting next to her, she had been talking to Matt. "I'm sorry, Holly," Vicki said. "But if you died, Esther promised me that I would get to live."

Holly tried to punch the window, but it wasn't working. The smoke was starting to get stronger and the screams were becoming louder by some sheer miracle Alaric managed to open the door and Holly quickly got out as they helped Elena and Stefan. They were barely a few feet away when the car exploded.

* * *

"So the plan failed," Holly said as she took the whisky for Damon. "How's that for failure?"

"Could have been worse," Damon said. "At least you didn't become barbecued, how are you?"

"I'm fine, thankfully." She heard a vase break and before she could ask something, someone came behind her and snapped her neck.

Damon felt someone hit him on the stomach. He squinted when he saw the figure. "Mason?"

-End of Chapter Seven-

Thanks for your reviews!


	8. Ghost World

**Chapter Eight: Ghost World**

Holly woke up slowly when she heard Damon hissing her name. "Holly, Holly wake up!"

Her eyes flew open when she saw Damon, he was tied up in a chair and the ropes were laced with vervain. She sat up and quickly began untying the ropes, not caring that the vervain hurt her. "What happened? Who snapped my neck?"

"Mason, ow," Damon hissed.

"Mason?" Holly frowned. "Mason's dead."

Damon winced. "Something tells me he's not if Matt could talk to Vicki, what if Mason paid a ghostly visit? We need to talk to the witch."

Half an hour later, Damon and Holly drove towards town to find Caroline and Bonnie. "We have a problem." Holly blurted out.

"What kind of problem?" Bonnie blurted out.

"Mason Lockwood snapped Holly's neck and he tied me up to a chair with vervain to torture me," Damon snapped. "I'm having déjà vu."

Caroline frowned. "I thought ghosts couldn't interact with people."

"They can't. Maybe a spell can fix it."

While the girls and Damon argued, Holly got out of the car and saw Matt. "I'll be right back."

When Matt saw her, he pretended to be busy. Holly hesitated. "Matt, we need to talk please. I know you know about me. . .and I know that you know what I did to Vicki and I'm sorry that I never told you, I swear I didn't want to kill her, it was an accident. . .I'm really sorry Matt. Please forgive me."

Matt finally looked up. His eyes looked sad. "It just sucks that you didn't tell me before, I thought we were closer than that." He hesitated. "And I'm sorry Vicki tried to kill you."

"Well, I didn't die so that's good," she said dryly as she turned back to Damon. "I need to go, but bye and. . .Thank you."

* * *

Bonnie had decided to try a spell to make the veil go up, but since she hadn't had much practice with it, things had gone from bad to worse quickly. Elena pushed the door open of the bathroom and saw Jeremy kissing Anna.

"Jeremy!" Elena took a step back, clearly shocked.

* * *

Stefan had been walking down the street, when he saw a familiar face in a store mirror. He turned around and a blond stared back at him. "Lexi?"

* * *

Holly and Damon were just ordering at the Grill when a familiar face appeared. "Hello, Holly," Mason knocked a glass against Damon's head. "Hello, Damon."

"Let's get to it," Damon groaned as he started pulling out the pieces. "You want revenge."

"No," Mason said. "I need an apology and I need to help Tyler."

"Bad news, buddy as long as Klaus is alive, Tyler is a mindless robot. Oh, and you can forget about the apology.'

"I know of a weapon that can kill Klaus," Mason smirked, "But first I need your apology."

Damon groaned. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Damon, this may be our chance to kill Klaus, just apologize," Holly snapped.

"Fine don't get all bossy." Damon's lips curled. "Fine, I didn't have to kill you, I do a lot of things I don't need to do." Holly rolled her eyes.

Meson laughed. "You two meet me at the Lockwood cellar, bring a shovel and don't bring anyone else."

* * *

"I'm surprised you two showed," Mason said cheerfully as they walked through the old ruins of the Lockwood cellar. "You must be desperate."

"You could say that," Holly pushed her hair back into a ponytail. "We lost our only lead."

"Yeah, Mikael I know."

"How do you know so much?" Damon asked annoyed.

Mason shrugged. "On the other side there is not much to do." He paused. "There is this old legend that the Lockwood's knew how to kill Original vampires, but like most of their secrets they kept it hidden in these caves." He started to use the shovel to break down the wall.

Damon took the shovel from him. "Let me do it." With a few easy taps the walls broke down. He stepped back. "You go first."

"Still not trusting me, huh?" Mason said dryly as he stepped inside and Damon and Holly followed as they walked deep into the caves. "Though you should because I know that as long as we have the same motives you won't hurt me and I know you will do everything for your brother."

They stopped short when they saw two sides. "All right flip a coin, let's see where we go?"

Holly raised an eyebrow. "I thought you knew everything."

"I'm a ghost, not God. Just pick one."

"Fine," she said. "Left."

Damon gripped the flashlight and as soon as he stepped inside stakes jabbed him in the stomach and back. "Ow, help a brother out, Mason?"

"Damon," Holly rushed towards him. "I'll get them out." She watched Mason leave. "Though it might take a while."

* * *

"Ow, Holly be careful!" Damon tried not to snap as Holly removed the third stake. "This is not exactly painless."

"I'm trying." She huffed, when she saw Mason retuning with a shovel. "You came back."

"Yep," Mason removed the stakes with the shovel. "I thought this would be easier."

"I killed you, man." Damon gasped. "Why are you being like this? I don't believe this whole buddy act."

Mason said calmly. "Do you know what the other Side is like? It's lonely, there you forget about things like revenge and you start focusing on what's important. I don't need revenge, Damon I need redemption. Now come on."

They reached the end of the tunnels, but only Mason was allowed to go through and not Holly and Damon. "We're stuck," Holly groaned. "It keeps vampires from going in."

"Wait!" Damon yelled when Mason started walking.

"I'm not stopping because you're stuck," he grinned. "Looks, like you're going to have to trust me."

He walked further and his face slowly filled with wonder. "It's-"he broke off when he disappeared.

"No," Holly whispered. "The veil must be back up. He's gone."

* * *

"What took you so long?" Damon asked Alaric once he meet him back at the tunnels.

"Damon!" Holly scolded.

Alaric shook his head. "Don't worry he always talks to me like that." He went inside and didn't speak for a moment.

"Well?" Damon asked annoyed. "Did you find anything? Was Mason lying?"

"I did find something." Alaric said as he overlooked the strange drawings on the walls.

"What?"

"I have no idea."

-End of Chapter Eight-


	9. Ordinary People

**Chapter Nine: Ordinary People**

"These images all tell a story," Alaric explained as he put down the pictures that he and Elena had taken from the cave so that Holly and Damon could see them.

Holly frowned as she picked up a picture. "They are just symbols." She said. "How are we supposed to figure them out if we can't even read them?"

"If you remember according to Mason, the weapon that can kill Klaus must be hidden here," Damon murmured.

"But doesn't Mikael have a weapon?" Holly asked.

"The wall will probably lead us to Mikael who we found and lost," Damon murmured. "According to Katherine he drank from her and he left."

Holly smiled. "Maybe we don't even have to figure this out, think about it the story is of the Original family, and all we have to do is go to the source: Rebekah."

* * *

The next morning, Holly stayed back for cheerleading practice, Rebekah at first tried to ignored her, but when she saw that Holly wasn't budging she said. "What do you want?"

"I was hoping that we could talk," Holly said in what she hoped was a friendly voice.

"About what?" Rebekah sounded hurt. "So that you can pretend to be my friend, like you did last time?"

Holly flushed, "Look, I'm sorry, but last time I just wanted to get out of Klaus' grip and I'm sure if anyone can understand that is you." She pulled out one of the pictures. "And I also want to continue the conversation we had last time, why did you and Klaus spend a 1000 years running from your father?"

Rebekah flinched slightly as she turned around. "I should get back to the girls', homecoming is just around the corner."

Holly felt herself losing her temper, she blurted out. "Well, then maybe I'll ask Mikael when we find him. He must be so bored in that cemetery in Charlotte."

Rebekah turned and hissed at her. "If you wake Mikael we are all doomed."

"Why?" Holly raised an eyebrow. "What aren't you telling me?"

Rebekah opened her mouth to respond, but she quickly looked away. "Never mind, I don't have time, I need to get back to the girls." After a while she paused. "Meet me at the Salvatore house after practice then we can talk." She smiled.

* * *

Holly walked inside the Salvatore house and Rebekah greeted her like they were long time best friends. "Hey! Come on in, girls please!"

Six girls wearing different dresses came towards the living room. "You compelled your own runaway show?"

"That's what compulsion is for, do you even use it?" Rebekah gave an exaggerated eye roll. "Now choose the dress I shall wear to homecoming, I need an opinion."

"I don't care about the dress, I came here to talk about Mikael."

Rebekah vamp flash towards her and pressed her against the wall. "I said pick one."

Through the corner of her eyes, Holly picked the first dress she saw. "The red one!"

Rebekah smiled as she let her go. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" her voice hardened. "You will learn, what I allow you to learn, understand?"

Holly nodded.

"Good now follow me."

* * *

After fifteen minutes of hearing Rebekah babble about shoes and hair accessories, Holly finally interrupted her. "When are you going to tell me your story? I really don't care about what shoes you wear."

Rebekah raised an eyebrow. "Klaus was right about you, you really are no fun. So what do you want to know?"

"How did you even get here?" Holly asked. "Elijah mentioned that you came from Europe."

Rebekah nodded. "My parents moved here when a plague struck their homeland, they lost a child to it," she gulped. "Even though most Europeans didn't know about this land, my mothers' friend Ayana did, she said that here was a mystical land filled with people that possessed the gift of speed and strength."

"The werewolves." Holly said.

"We lived in peace with them for over 20 years, during that time, my family had more children."

Holly looked perplexed. "You make it sound so normal."

Rebekah gave her a sad smile. "It was." Her voice broke. "Every full moon we went downstairs in the caves to hide and the next morning we would return home. One night Klaus and my little brother Henrik, sneaked out to watch the wolves transformed and Henrik was killed and that ended our peace with them."

"I'm sorry," Holly whispered. "So who made you into vampires?"

"Our mother," Rebekah whispered. "She was the Original witch of the Original family. My parents thought that vampirism was a form of protection, not a curse."

Holly cocked her head to the side. "You could have left and not become a vampire, why didn't you move on. Start over?"

Rebekah scoffed. "Pride, my father wanted to fight back." She sat down and poured herself a glass of whisky. "My mother decided to stay a witch, since you can only be a witch or a vampire never both. Ayana warned her not to, but my mother was determined and it was a complicated spell. That night our father gave us wine laced with blood and then he stabbed a sword through our hearts."

Holly gasped. "He killed you?"

Rebekah broke the glass by throwing it into the fireplace. "And he wasn't gentle about it either, but we soon learned the consequences, we weren't allowed to walk in the sun, vervain burned us, and the wood from a white oak tree could kill us so we burnt it to the ground, and of course there was this intense hunger. Don't look so surprise, Holly you weren't expecting a fairytale were you?"

She shook her head. "Of course not, but what Mikael did, even to save you was cruel. Why did he start hunting Klaus? Are you all werewolves?"

Rebekah shook her head. "No, you silly girl. Klaus is our half-brother, he's the only one who is a werewolf. As it turned out, he was the product of an affair that our mother had with a werewolf. When Mikael found out, he went on a rampage and killed half of the village and then he killed my mother while Nik watched and the he fled."

"Why would Mikael kill your mother?"

Rebekah shook her head. "He said that she broke his heart so he was going to break hers. Elijah and Klaus stayed with me so that I could bury my mother, we promised on that moment that we would stick together as one always and forever."

Holly crossed her arms over her chest. "You do realize that he stuck you in a coffin for 90 years, how can you still forgive him and love him?"

Rebekah shrugged. "He's my brother, you will realize soon Holly that is better to be surrounded by bad company than to spend eternity alone," she narrowed her eyes. "Now go, I'm not stupid, Holly I know what you and your little friends are trying to do! I know you want Mikael to kill Klaus!"

"He has taken over Stefan's life, he has made my life hell playing with the lives of the people I care about. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't wake Mikael to kill him?"

Rebekah pushed her against the wall. "Wake Mikael if you want, but if you come after my brother I will kill you."

* * *

"How was it?" Alaric asked Holly once she walked through the door, there were dozens of post it notes on the walls along with the pictures. "We've translated a couple."

Holly sighed. "Rebekah didn't kill me, so that's good, though I did find out why Rebekah hates Mikael so much, he killed her mother the Original witch." She paused at a picture with a bleeding heart and a symbol for hybrid next to it. Klaus. Witch. Heart. "Oh, god Rebekah doesn't know the whole story."

* * *

"I thought I told you to leave," Rebekah said when Holly stepped into the room. "Twice."

"I came here to tell you that you don't know the whole story and you deserve to know the kind of person your brother really is." Holly placed the photos down.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"This is the symbol of the Original witch, this is the symbol of the hybrid," Holly explained. "This is the story of her death, Klaus killed the original witch, not Mikael."

Rebekah shook her head. "No, he wouldn't."

"Rebekah, he was mad that your mother rejected him, with the werewolf gene comes aggression and violence and he lied about your mom's death, because he didn't want to lose you."

"This doesn't mean anything these are just stupid drawings!" Rebekah started tearing them up.

"Then why are you so upset?" Holly questioned. "Klaus killed your mother, he is trying to control all of us we have to make him stop!"

"Shut up!" Rebekah snapped, tears falling down her face. "Shut up, shut up!" she fell to her knees crying as Holly looked on guiltily.

* * *

"Rebekah is locked up in her room, she must have taken it well," Damon said sarcastically.

Holly rolled her eyes. "Be nice, Rebekah may not be the nicest person in the world, but she doesn't deserve half of the things she went though and despite everything family is still very important to her-"

Damon interrupted her, by kissing her.

"What was that for?"

"Because I wanted to stop talking about the Originals for one second."

"Oh, dear I hope I'm not interrupting." Mikael said as he came into the room.

"Um, who are-"

Damon cleared his throat. "Holly, I'd like you to meet Mikael."

-End of Chapter Nine-


	10. Homecoming

**Chapter Ten: Homecoming**

Holly, Damon, Stefan, Elena, and now apparently Mikael, Klaus' stepfather were in the living room trying to make up a lie that Klaus would actually believe so that they could lure him back to Mystic Falls. "We could say that he tried to kidnap Elena for leverage?" Holly suggested. "That has worked before."

Elena nodded. "And then what, I vervain him?"

"No, we vervain him, he's an Original we have to make it believable," Damon bit his lip. "And then we can say that he had a dagger and he was planning on using it on Rebekah, but-"

"-We used it on him instead." Stefan concluded. "Perfect."

Holly frowned. "Wait, what if he asks to see a body?" she looked at Stefan. "You're compelled by Klaus, one wrong question and everything falls into pieces and we end up dead."

"Don't look at me," Stefan shook his head. "I'm just in charge of getting him here."

Elena frowned. "Klaus would want proof that Mikael is dead."

"Then I shall be dead," Mikael finally spoke up. "Klaus will want to see my body, you will lure him here and I will kill him."

"With what?" Stefan asked. "The daggers won't work on him."

"I plan to make his dead quite permanent," Mikael said. "You see I have made a stake made of the white oak, but I will not tell you where it is so that you don't leave the dagger inside me. Deal?"

After a while Damon said. "Deal, but if Stefan tells the truth, he's going to have to need to watch the whole show."

"Not a problem, a human needs to dagger me," Mikael turned to Elena and placed the dagger in her hand. "Then I guess the task falls to you dear."

Elena bit her lip as she daggered Mikael. Mikael let out a soft whimper as he fell to the floor.

"Good," Damon turned to Stefan. "Now call him."

"He won't trust us," Holly still wasn't sure. "He won't trust our word."

"I'll do it," Rebekah said as she came into the room, her eyes were still swollen from crying. "He won't trust you word, but he will trust mine. That bastard killed my mother and I will finally get my revenge."

* * *

"I have nothing to wear to homecoming," Holly complained to Bonnie as she looked at her closet, it was mostly filled with jeans and cute boots and a couple of old dresses. "Do you think that Caroline would get piss if I show up in jeans?"

"Probably," Bonnie laughed. "So why don't we order take out and study the images in the cave?"

"I wish I could, but Caroline would kill us."

Bonnie sighed. "Caroline actually has a date."

The smile faded from Holly's lips when she realized that Bonnie was still upset over the fact that Jeremy had cheated on her with Anna. "Look, I know I was absent during the summer, but I'm here now and you can talk to me about anything, about you, or Jeremy, or Anna. I'm here to listen."

"Thanks Holly," Bonnie forced a smile. "But you wouldn't understand, he's your little brother, you can't be mad at him like I am."

"Bonnie-"

"Don't," Bonnie interrupted. "He's your little brother, you shouldn't be mad at him, but no I can't talk to you about it."

* * *

"Why are you all twitchy?" Damon asked Holly, they were in Damon's room cleaning the weapons while Holly tapped her foot nervously. "You're making me nervous."

"There are just so many things that could go wrong," Holly bit her lip. "Klaus treated Rebekah like crap for ages, but at the end of the day he's still her brother, call it a gut feeling or that I'm paranoid, but I don't think that we can trust her."

"Oh, really cause those Original brothers are usually so reliable," Damon said sarcastically. "Wolfsbane's ready and don't worry your pretty little head, I have a secret backup plan."

"What?" Holly frowned. "What is it?"

"Well if it told you then it wouldn't be secret," Damon groaned. "Come on Holly, don't give me those puppy dog eyes, and just trust me."

Holly sighed. "Fine, but we still need to do something about Rebekah."

"What are you proposing?"

"That we dagger her." She bit her lip. "At least until all of this is over and Klaus is dead."

* * *

"Will you stop looking so guilty?" Damon sighed as he put a blanket over Rebekah's desiccated body. "Technically Elena was the one that stabbed Rebekah in the back, literally. Thought I have to hand it to her, two originals in one day."

"Yes, but I asked her to do it," Holly crossed her arms over her chest. "I feel terrible and she was so excited about homecoming-"

"Holly," Damon grasped her arm. "Don't worry about it, you're not like Katherine or Klaus because you stabbed someone in the back once."

Holly shook her head. "That doesn't exactly make me feel better, Damon." She sighed. "Do you trust him, Mikael? Rebekah and Klaus didn't exactly run because he was trustworthy."

"No."

"What about Stefan?"

"Nope."

She sighed. "Then we need a better plan."

"I have a plan, trust me Holly." He cupped her chin.

"Then why won't you tell me?"

"Because I don't want you to get hurt if something goes wrong."

"Well, that made me feel better."

Damon pushed back a piece of dark hair from her face. "Do you trust me?"

Holly's face softened. "You know I do."

* * *

Since the high school gym was flooded, Tyler following Klaus' orders had thrown the party at his house with a live band. The place was packed with people and Holly, dressed in a short navy blue dress was drinking more than usual to calm her nerves. She saw Katherine (pretending to be Elena) throw her a glare as if warning her not to be so nervous. What if the plan failed? What if they screwed up? What if-

"Hello, Holly," Klaus said as he came towards her. "Long time no see, you look lovely in that dress."

"If that's your lame way of apologizing for blaming me for your wasted summer and throwing me against a truck I'm not buying it." Holly said.

"Come on, Holly." Klaus smiled. "Don't be like that, you made me angry last time, but that doesn't mean we can't be friends?"

"You tried to kill me," Holly elaborated. "That doesn't qualify you as friend's material."

Klaus shook his head. "Very well, be stubborn, but a word of warning, Holly I have no idea what you and your little friends are up too, but if you try to destroy me you will fail."

"God," she forced a smile. "Paranoid much?"

"Just a little precaution." Klaus said, "Enjoy your homecoming."

* * *

Klaus was watching a beer pong competition when one his hybrids informed him that he had a visitor, his father Mikael. Klaus stiffen, but made him way towards the entrance where Mikael couldn't enter as long as he wasn't invited in. "Hello, Niklaus."

"Hello Mikael," he responded. "Why don't you come in? Oh, that's right you can't Perhaps you will enjoy being ripped apart by my hybrids."

"They can't kill me," Mikael scoffed. "The big bad wolf and yet you're still hiding behind closed doors, you're pathetic boy!"

A female hybrid pushed Katherine forward. "Come out and face me Niklaus or I will kill her."

"Go ahead and kill her!"

Katherine bit her lip. "He will, Klaus, he's not bluffing."

"If I kill her there will be no more hybrids for you," Mikael grabbed Katherine by the neck. "You will be forever alone so come and face me you little coward."

"I'm calling your bluff father." Klaus said. "Kill her!"

"Your impulse Niklaus is the one thing that will keep you from being great," he stabbed a stake in Katherine's stomach and Katherine fell to the floor. Damon came from behind Klaus and stabbed the stake in his stomach.

Katherine stood up and held up two wolfsbane grenades. "Kaboom!"

"Katherine," Mikael choked out.

Damon had managed to push Klaus into the ground and was just about to jab the white oak stake in his heart when Stefan pushed him away.

"What are you doing?" Damon hissed.

Klaus grabbed the white oak stake and stabbed it through Mikael's heart. Mikael screamed as he burst into flames.

"What the hell did you do?" Damon hissed.

"He earned his freedom," Klaus said as he looked at Stefan. "Thank you my friend, you no longer have to do as I say. You're free."

* * *

Damon angrily threw his whisky glass against the wall and Holly flinched. "We thought of everything Holly, Klaus bringing hybrids, Mikael turning on us, we brought in Katherine to keep Elena safe. We blew it."

"I don't understand, Stefan wanted Klaus dead more than anything." She paused. "Where's Katherine?"

"She ran for the hills like she always does and who could blame her, Klaus would have crushed her. I had him Holly, I had Klaus, and this could all have been over."

"Damon, relax." Holly gripped his arm. "This is not your fault, we'll figure something else."

His phone rang and he answered it. "Not really interested in a recap of our failure Katherine."

"I just called to say goodbye Damon," Katherine said. "I don't know what to tell you, you had a good plan Damon and that's high praise coming from me."

"That's not very comforting at the moment. You're going back into hiding?"

Katherine smirked. "At least my life is not boring, goodbye Damon."

"Take care of yourself, Katherine."

"Where is she?" Klaus demanded as he kicked the door open as he pinned Holly against the wall, he digged his fingers in her throat. "This was your plan all along? Where are they? Where's Stefan?"

"What are you talking about?" Holly choked out.

Damon pushed Klaus away. "Leave her alone, we don't know what you're talking about, and what does Stefan have to do with this?"

"He stole my coffins." Klaus snarled. "The ones that held my family, now where is he?"

"We don't know!" Holly hissed.

"Find Stefan and bring me back my coffins," Klaus said in a deadly voice. "Or I can assure you that all of you will be dead."

-End of Chapter Ten-


	11. The New Deal

**Chapter Eleven: The New Deal**

_Holly felt herself walking through the forest, she_ _stopped short when she saw an array of coffins. The coffins of Klaus' family. She stopped short on the only one that was open. She backed up when she saw a pile of bones in it._

_She stepped back when she heard somebody whispering in her ear. "It is time."_

Holly woke up with a start as she let out a gasp. "Oh, crap not again."

* * *

"What could it mean though?" Holly asked as she looked around the room. "Coffins and a pile of bones and someone telling me that it's time for something."

"That you're going crazy?" Damon suggested.

"Very funny." She said. "I'm serious." She turned to Elena. "Have you heard from Stefan?"

Elena shook her head. "Not since I left him my 600th voice mail, he's not picking up his phone, the Stefan that we knew is dead."

Bonnie noticed the tension in the room and she quickly changed the subject. "Any word from Klaus?"

She shook her head. "No, and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"Bad," Damon concluded. "Knowing him, he's going to be knocking down our door at any minute. What's wrong?" he turned to Elena who was frowning at her phone. "Is it Stefan?"

"No, it's Alaric," Elena sounded frustrated. "Jeremy's been spiraling out of control ever since-he just got fired from the Grill and let's just say that he's not doing very good in school at the moment."

"Somebody's getting grounded." Damon sing song, ignoring Holly, Bonnie, and Elena's reproaching glare. "Oh, please stop looking at me like that, he lost his job at the grill, he's going to survive."

* * *

"Where is he?" Holly grumbled under her breath. She and Damon were at the Grill as she tried to learn how to play darts without breaking the board in half. "He hasn't been picking up his phone, no one has seen him-"

"Holly," Damon took a sip of his drink. "He will be fine, he's probably out there writing poetry about seeing ghosts and still being in love with his ex-girlfriend."

Holly put down the darts and glanced at Damon. "By the way are you ok with the whole Stefan thing? You seem kind of out of it. The drunk look is not your best look."

Damon smirked at her, ignoring her question. "Oh yeah? Then what is my best look?"

Holly was about to respond when Klaus approach them. "Well, don't let me interrupt."

"Klaus." Holly whispered.

"Really?" Damon scoffed. "You're going to do this at the Grill in front of everyone? That's a little beneath you, don't you think?"

"I don't know what you're talking about I don't care about you and I won't touch a hair on Holly's pretty little head, me and my mate just came here to grab a drink." He turned to the hybrid. "Tony get us a couple of drinks please. My sister seems to be missing and since everything leads back to you two I would like to know where she is."

"Cute, blond psycho bombshell, she shouldn't be too hard to find."

"Truth is I've come to like your little town, I might fancy a home here." Klaus smirked at their bewildered expressions. "Look this doesn't have to be difficult, you give me what I want and I'll leave everyone you care about alone. You have my word."

"What more do you want?" Holly questioned. "Stefan skipped town the minute he saved you. We don't know where he is or where to find him, how many more times do we have to tell you?"

"Careful, love." Klaus cautioned. "I don't like women with sharp tongues."

"And I don't like men who are jerks so I guess we both reached a wall." She stood up. "I need a drink."

* * *

"So do you think a family dinner is really going to solve everything for Jeremy?" Holly questioned as she helped Elena and Alaric set the table.

"No," Alaric sighed, "But it's worth the try because at this point I don't know what else to do."

Jeremy came in and gave them all weird expression at having all of them in the kitchen at the same time.

"You're just in time." Holly said. "We're making dinner so that we can have dinner like a happy, normal family."

Jeremy snorted. "Why?

"Maybe because you got fired and didn't tell anyone." Elena pounced on him.

"Elena," Holly hissed. "We promise to do this slowly."

"Look," Jeremy said annoyed. "Can we do this later, Tyler is waiting outside."

Alaric frowned. "Since when do you hang out with Tyler Lockwood?"

"Does it matter?"

Elena nodded. "Yes, it matters. He's sired to Klaus, he's dangerous."

Holly chuckled nervously. "Um, Elena I'm pretty sure that he can hear you, why don't we talk about this later?"

"No," Jeremy glared at Elena. "If she wants to talk about this now, we can talk about it now." He looked over her shoulder. "Tyler come on in."

Tyler stepped in and Jeremy handed him a glass of water.

"This is weird," Elena said exasperated, not bothering to hide her annoyance. "Now Klaus had hybrids stalking me in my own kitchen."

Tyler put down his glass of water. "Maybe I should go-"

"No, Tyler we didn't mean-"Holly broke off. "I mean what is the difference between being sired and being compelled?"

"Compelled is just mind control, sired it's like faith," Tyler smiled. "Like you're doing the right thing. Klaus released me from the torture of turning every full moon, I owe him for that. You guys are just like Caroline you don't understand."

Elena slammed her hand against the table. "Yeah, Tyler I don't understand, Klaus has made our lives a living hell and you're still loyal to him."

Tyler shook his head as he stood up. "You're overthinking this, I can still make my own choices."

They finished dinner in angry silence before Jeremy left to take a phone call.

"Well, that was illuminating." Alaric said.

"Yeah. he's the kind of people that he should be hanging around with-" Elena stopped when she saw that Jeremy had left his Gilbert ring on the table. "Why did he take it off?"

Holly stood up. "Jeremy!" They walked outside and saw Jeremy standing in the middle of the road. "Jeremy move." She saw a car flashing towards Jeremy getting ready to run him over. Alaric quickly moved Jeremy out of the way, getting run over instead.

Tony rolled down the window, the same hybrid that Holly had meet at the Grill. "There I go again, bumping into people."

Elena relaxed when she saw that Ric had his ring. "He's going to be ok. Who was that on the phone?"

"It was Klaus."

"You were compelled." Holly said through gritted teeth. "Come on let's get him inside."

* * *

"How is he?" Damon asked them when he saw Alaric on the couch. "Did he have his ring?"

Holly nodded. "Now we're just waiting for him to wake up."

Damon turned to Jeremy. "What happened to your vervain bracelet?"

"I don't know."

"It's Tyler, it has to be," Elena turned to him. "That's why he has been hanging out with you, to get you off the vervain."

"He wants the coffins and he's trying to send us a message." Damon paced around the room. "So we have to find Stefan as soon as we can so that he can give us back the coffins-"

"So that's the plan?" Jeremy demanded. "Hand back the originals so that Klaus doesn't kill us?"

"Do you have a better idea?"

"Yeah, let's pack our stuff and move, why are we still here?"

"Jeremy, calm down."

"No, Holly I won't calm down." Jeremy snapped, his eyes filled with hurt. "What's the point of worrying about our lives if none of us are going to live it?" he stormed off.

Holly turned to Damon. "He said he wants his family back, if we give him Rebekah-"

"No," Damon shook his head. "We are not giving Klaus anything."

"Damon is right," Elena said. "The minute that Rebekah wakes up she will come after us, me for daggering her and you for thinking of it in the first place."

* * *

Holly stayed back to see when would Ric wake up while Damon and Elena went in search of Stefan. Ric suddenly sat up and Holly smiled. "Ric, finally, you were out for a long time."

"Yeah," Ric said. "How's Jeremy?"

"Well, he hates everything." Holly said. "Not that I blame him especially since our dining room table is emptier than usual."

Ric started coughing up blood. "Something's wrong." He curled up in pain. "The ring."

* * *

When trying to feed Ric vampire blood didn't work Holly was forced to call an ambulance and watched in distress as the paramedics did everything they could to stop the bleeding.

"Let's move." One of the paramedics said.

"Let's not and say we did," Tony said as the paramedic left. "You didn't deliver Klaus' family and Klaus got his revenge."

"You can't get in, you're not invited in."

"No, but if I was then I could call back the paramedics," Tony said. "All you have to do is call your sister to come back and let me in, unless you enjoy watching him suffer."

"Don't Holly," Alaric said between breaths. "Don't do it."

An arrow hit Tony in the head and Jeremy stood behind with a crossbone. "He's not dead yet." Jeremy said as he ran into the kitchen and grabbed a knife.

"Jeremy, what are you doing?"

Jeremy ignored her as he went to Tony's body, raised the knife and cut off his head. Holly screamed.

"Come on," Jeremy said ignoring her screams. "We need to take Ric to a hospital."

* * *

"Thank you for coming," Holly said stiffly as she opened the door for Klaus so that he could come in. She had called him right after Jeremy had decapitated the hybrid, which was still plastered in her mind. How did a sixteen year old kill without blinking? She knew Klaus wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted, and all though she didn't have the coffins she did have Rebekah.

Klaus ignored her as he stepped inside. "Where is Stefan?"

Holly bit her lip. "We couldn't find him, but I do have something else. Rebekah." When she saw that Klaus was interested she cocked her head. "Follow me."

She led him to the cellar and opened the door so that Klaus could see where Rebekah was daggered.

"My poor sister, I can't turn my back on her for a moment."

Holly crossed her arms over her chest. "A deal is a deal."

"The life of my sister in exchanged of your brother's?" Klaus raised an eyebrow. "I call that a bargain."

"You should know that I was the one that convince Elena to dagger her," Holly said. "You should also know that she knows about what you did to your mother."

"I can handle Rebekah." Klaus said as he undaggered Rebekah. "All you and your little group of friends have to do is find Stefan."

"I already told you I don't know where he is!"

Klaus pointed the dagger at her. "You're lying, you're always lying. Thankfully, you don't have a shortage of love ones who should I go after next, Alaric, Aunt Jenna, Damon perhaps-"

Holly pinned him against the wall. "Don't you dare."

Klaus easily pushed her back down. "Hit a nerve didn't I sweetheart? Find me Stefan and you and your lover boy won't have to fear me anymore."

* * *

Holly was cleaning the kitchen trying to clean some of the leftover blood. She flinched when she heard Damon come in.

"Well, it's done, Tony the headless hybrid's body and head are floating in the river." He frowned. "What's wrong?"

She hesitated. "I gave Rebekah to Klaus."

Damon shook his head in anguish. "No, no tell me that you didn't do something so stupid."

"I had to Damon," Holly said exasperated. "He threatened to come after Jeremy, he almost got Alaric killed permanently, I can't just stand here and do nothing." Her voice broke. "I can't go on like this, we can't go on like this. Jeremy be headed a person tonight. It can't go on like this, he's sixteen years old, and he shouldn't have to go through this."

"Holly is right," Elena said as she came into the kitchen. "This shouldn't be his life."

Damon turned to both of them. "What are you suggestion?"

Holly and Elena exchanged looks. "I think we should compel him to leave Mystic Falls for a while so that Klaus doesn't get to him." Holly said slowly.

"And I think you should do it," Elena said to Damon. "No offense, but-"

"I know, I wouldn't have the guts."

* * *

"Did we do the right thing?" Holly sighed once Jeremy had been compelled to leave for Denver soon and they were back in Damon's room. "He was pissed the last time we did it, what if he hates me, or what if Klaus finds him-"

"He won't, Holly he won't," Damon cupped her face. "You did the right thing."

Holly gave him a small smile as she kissed him, feeling relax for a while. For one night she didn't want to think about Stefan or Klaus. She just wanted to think about Damon. About them.

Damon kissed her back as they hastily started removing their clothes and making their way towards their bed.

-End of Chapter Eleven-


	12. Our Town

**Chapter Twelve: Our Town**

"Pink." Holly told Elena the following morning at school. Today was Caroline's birthday and they were decorating her locker to surprise her. "She will definably like pink glitter."

"Hey, sorry I'm late." Bonnie said as she rushed towards them. "I was busy."

"No, problem we just got here." Elena said as she took one last look at the locker. "How is it?"

"Perfect," Holly turned to Bonnie. "Now I have some bad news and I don't think that you're going to like it, but it's for the best."

Bonnie looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

Elena and Holly exchanged gazes. "Jeremy is leaving town," Elena explained. "He's staying with family friends in Denver until this whole thing with Klaus blows over."

Bonnie shook her head. "No, Jeremy will never leave you to handle things with Klaus all alone."

"I know." Holly stared at the ground guiltily. "Elena asked Damon to compel him so that I didn't chicken out."

"You what?" Bonnie snapped.

"It's for the best, Bon." Holly said as she looked at Jeremy who was emptying his locker. "And only for a little while, I know you and Jeremy haven't worked things out, so if you want to before he leaves-"

"Yes, Holly." Bonnie interrupted. "I get it."

* * *

Caroline couldn't believe that it was her birthday and she was unhappy. Her birthday was her favorite day, but ever since she had turned into a vampire, it just seemed fake, it wasn't like she was going to get any older and the thought was too depressing so she decided to not go into school today and deal with the happy birthdays.

She jumped short when Elena, Matt, Holly, and Bonnie jumped into the hallway carrying balloons and signs. "Happy birthday!" they shouted.

Caroline laughed. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Well, you ditch school and missed our fabulous artwork so we thought we'd bring your birthday party home." Holly handed her a pink balloon. "It's pink, your favorite color."

"So change into some warm clothes we're going to the fall." Bonnie smiled. "S'mores, campfire."

"And a birthday cake." Elena laughed. "Like when we were little."

"Except with tequila." Matt sing song as he showed them, the bottle.

"Thanks, guys really." Caroline said sadly as she let go off the balloon. "It's just I'm not really feeling my birthday this year. It's not like I'm going to age, I will be 17 forever, and I'm stuck in a filter year."

"You're not stuck, Caroline." Holly said. "I'm going to be 17 forever too and believe me it's not so bad, besides that doesn't matter it's still your birthday and we are determine to make it special."

Elena thought for a moment. "I have a better idea."

* * *

Elena stopped short when they came face to face with the Salvatore's family crypt. "There it is!"

"You brought us to a cemetery?" Holly snorted. "This is creepy even for us."

"No, Caroline was right, she's dead," Elena said softly. "So she needs a funeral so that she can say goodbye to her old life and move on with her new one." They walked inside and Matt and Bonnie started looking for candles.

Caroline took a deep breath. "Ok, here lies, Caroline Forbes-"

"Cheerleader, Miss Mystic Falls, third grade hopscotch champion." Elena smiled as she placed candles on the cake.

"Friend, daughter, overachiever," Bonnie continued.

"Loyal, strong, beautiful." Holly continued.

Matt smiled. "Mean girl sometimes, no offense."

Caroline shrugged. "None taken."

"She was 17 and she had a really good life," Elena said as she placed the cake in front of her. "So rest in peace, you need this to move forward, we all do. So amen or cheers or something. Bonnie?"

Bonnie closed her eyes and the candles of the birthday cake lit up.

"Nice." Holly smiled. "Make a wish, Caroline."

Caroline closed her eyes as she blew out her candles. Afterwards Bonnie cut the cake and they took turns passing the tequila bottle around. Elena playfully took it from Matt. "Believe me I need it more than you do."

Holly looked up from her cake. "Who are you texting, Caroline?"

"You're a bad sober liar, you're an ever worst drunk liar," Elena said. "Come on spill."

Caroline put down her phone. "Tyler."

"Caroline." Elena groaned.

"What? I'm delicate!"

"Give her a break," Bonnie snapped. "You can't control what everyone does all the time."

Elena frowned. "Ouch, Bon."

"Sorry," Bonnie responded, not sounding very sorry at all. "I know that it's Caroline birthday or funeral or whatever, but I just think that it's bad that you and Holly had Jeremy compelled out of town. He should choose how he lives his life."

Holly's mood darkened. "You're not going to tell him are you?"

"And if I do?" Bonnie narrowed her eyes. "Are you going to compel me not to?" the mood was quiet. "I think I'm going to head to bed, happy birthday."

Five minutes later, Tyler appeared and he stiffened. "Sorry, I didn't mean to crash the party."

"So don't." Matt snapped,

"No, it's ok." Caroline said. "Hi."

Tyler motioned towards the woods. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure."

Once Caroline and Tyler had left, Holly stood up. "Well, I'm going I need some sleep." She waved goodbye and headed towards her car.

* * *

Holly had just entered her car when she heard screams. Caroline's screams. Tyler. She vamp flash through the woods trying to find out where the screams were coming from. She stopped short when she saw Tyler pushing Caroline against a tree, ignoring her cries.

"Tyler, let her go!" she snapped as she pushed him away, ignoring Tyler's growl. She felt something sharp against her arm and Holly stopped short. He had bit her. "What did you do?" Holly shouted. "What the hell did you do?"

"Oh, crap." Tyler paled, "Holly, I'm so sorry-"

"Just get out of here, Tyler," Caroline snapped as she put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Let's go."

* * *

"It's not that bad really," Holly sighed as Caroline put an extra pillow behind her head. She was on Damon's bed and it was hard to ignore the purple-red bite mark that was on her arm. "Just a little nip."

"Yeah, a little nip that can kill you." Damon shook his head. "Remind me why I can't kill him again?"

"Because he's our friend." Holly emphasize. "Our hybrid, Klaus controlled friend. Can you give us a moment?"

Caroline nodded as she left the room. There was an awkward silence. "So how long until the hallucinations start?"

"In an hour or two." Damon shrugged. "Does it hurt?"

"No, it's just uncomfortable."

Damon frowned. "We need to call Klaus so that he can heal you-"

"No," Holly said sharply. "I don't want his help, and what's the point? He's just going to laugh in my face, no I don't want his help. I would rather die than drink his blood."

Damon ran a hand through his dark hair. "This is no time to be stubborn, Holly."

"I'm not being stubborn, I'm being reasonable."

"So, it's reasonable to fall over and die?!"

Holly leaned back against the pillow trying to hide the fear in her voice. "It's my choice, Damon."

* * *

The Salvatore door opened and Damon looked at Klaus, the only person that could save Holly and the one that Holly despised the most. "Took you long enough."

"Where is she?" Klaus ignored the sarcasm. "And why did it take you so long to call me?"

"Holly and I had a small debate about the meaning of life," Damon closed the door. "And I won when she fell asleep. She's in my bedroom."

Klaus nodded. "I would advise you to wait here mate. I need privacy."

"For what so that you can strangle her?"

Klaus cocked an eyebrow. "Privacy or no blood." When he didn't move he smiled. "Smart choice." He opened the door of Damon's room and frowned when he saw Holly on the bed, more asleep than awake and she was obviously running a fever.

"What are you doing here?" she murmured. "Are you here to kill me?"

"Do you really think I'm so much of a monster?"

"How is that even a real question?" Holly took a deep breath. "Damon called you, didn't he?"

"Yes, he did however mention your wish to die a dramatic death." Klaus said. "And I could respect your wish if you want."

Holly gave him a small smile. "Well, dying doesn't seem as much fun as it did an hour ago."

"It never is. I do apologize you were a casualty. Tyler was supposed to bit Caroline."

"Yes, that makes me feel better." She broke up into coughs.

"You're dying, here." Klaus bit into his wrist and blood poured out. Holly stared at it for a while before she started drinking it. Klaus rummage his hand through her dark hair which smelled like vanilla and cinnamon.

Holly pulled back. "Thanks Klaus."

"You're welcome, love. Anytime."

Holly rolled her eyes. "No, thanks." She brighten. "Damon."

Klaus scowled. "Well, it looks like I'm done here and not to interrupt the happy reunion, but Stefan does owe me some coffins."

Damon ignored him as he kissed Holly. "Don't you ever do that to me again."

His phone buzz and he frowned.

"Is it Liz?" Holly guessed as she put down the blood bag that he handed to her.

He nodded. "There's been a murder."

"You should go." Holly's voice cracked. "I should be telling goodbye to Jeremy anyway."

Damon kissed her cheek. "I'll be back soon."

* * *

Once Holly had changed clothes she headed downstairs to where Elena was waiting to say goodbye to Jeremy. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Not dead, sort off." She hugged her brother. "Goodbye, Jeremy be safe."

"You too." He stopped short when he saw Bonnie.

"I came to say goodbye," Bonnie said awkwardly. She hugged him and she mouthed at Holly over his shoulder-are you ok?

Holly nodded as she watched Jeremy leave, praying that they had done the right thing.

* * *

Liz and Damon looked down at Brian Walters who was dead, with a stake to his heart. "A hiker called him in." Liz said with her hands on her hips. "I thought he was a hybrid, but he was human. Brian Walters, medical examiner and Dr. Meredith Fell's ex-boyfriend."

"What's with the stake?" Damon frowned. "It's not like he was a vampire."

"I know, this was murder."

-End of Chapter Twelve-


	13. The Ties that Bind

**Chapter Thirteen: The Ties that Bind**

"Can you tell me again why are we stalking Dr. Fell?" Holly raised an eyebrow as she and Damon walked through the pristine halls of Mystic Falls' Hospital.

"We're not stalking," Damon corrected. "We're just merely trying to find out if her grubby hands killed her ex-boyfriend Brian Walters."

"Why would she kill him though?" Holly frowned. "And I have heard nothing but good things about her, even Ric seems to like her."

"Well, Ric is a hopeless case," Damon smirked. "And have you've known nothing? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." He eyed Dr. Fell who was walking towards them. "We never got a chance to meet, I'm Damon Salvatore."

Meredith nodded. "Ric's friend right?" she turned to Holly. "And you must be the other Gilbert, Holly right?"

Holly forced a tight smile. "That's me."

Meredith nodded. "Well, it was nice talking to you."

Meredith was just halfway through when Damon spoke up again in a fake, concern voice. "Heard about your boyfriend, brutal attack, animal right?"

Meredith gave him a wary look. "Ex-boyfriend and still processing."

Holly and Damon followed Meredith into a room. "But you know it wasn't an animal attack don't you?" Holly said to Meredith's retreating back. "I mean you did sign the death certificate."

Meredith turned around and hissed. "Would you rather I say he was staked like a vampire? Why do you even care?"

Damon shrugged. "Because Ric likes you and if you're a psychopath that would really suck for him."

Meredith looked bewildered. "You think I killed my ex-boyfriend?" she snapped. "If you care about your friend then you better figure out how he came into ICU and then walked out like nothing happened."

Before either Holly or Damon could respond, they felt a sharp prick of a needle against both of their necks as they passed out.

* * *

"What are you two doing here?" Alaric asked surprise when he opened the door of his apartment and saw Holly and Damon looking both tired and annoyed.

"We went to visit your lovely doctor friend," Holly said sarcastically as she came in.

Damon nodded. "Any idea how she managed to vervain both me and Holly, blood jack us and leave us on the hospital floor."

Alaric looked startled. "When did you two even meet her?"

"When we went to visit her at the hospital this morning," Holly said wearily. "And then Damon accused her of murdering her boyfriend."

"Holly!"

"Don't get mad at her, it was my idea," Damon said.

"I told you, I would handle this."

"I proved your theory, diagnose psycho case. You're welcome."

* * *

"He's coming," Holly said once she heard Klaus' footsteps coming towards the basement. Thanks to a heads up from Bonnie who was visiting her mother, Abby. Holly and Damon knew that Klaus had threatened to kill her "son" Jamie if he didn't get the coffins back, so they decided to end this once and for all.

"You have a good ear, love," Klaus said. "Unfortunely, I don't care about you right now, I care about my coffins or the Bennett witch line is going to be missing a few members," he turned towards the ceiling and spoke to the witch ancestors. "Show me the coffins."

The coffins appeared, but he frowned. "Where's the fourth one?"

"Oh, Bonnie called us," Damon smirked. "We couldn't hide all of them, but we did managed to hide the last one, the sealed one."

"I will kill both of you!" Klaus snarled. "I will tear you limb from limb, I will pull your heart from your chest!"

"Good ahead and try, then you will never know where the coffins are hidden," Holly smirked. "And something tells me you really care about what is in that coffin."

* * *

Klaus's temper decline when he saw the hybrid putting the last of the coffins in the basement of his new home. The hybrid turned to him. "Well, you have your family back, are you going to open them?"

Klaus shook his head. "No, not yet, soon."

The hybrid opened his mouth to speak, but he started trembling as he fell to the floor, Elijah stood behind him with his heart in his hand.

Klaus paled. "Elijah."

"Niklaus." Elijah said coolly. "What have I missed?"

-End of Chapter Thirteen-

Thanks for your reviews!


	14. Bringing Out the Dead

**Chapter Fourteen: Bringing Out the Dead**

Holly was just getting breakfast on the table when she heard the doorbell ring. "Elena can you get that?"

"Sure," Elena opened the door and she looked taken back when she saw that it was Liz. "Sherriff Forbes, hi. Is everything ok?" Alaric and Holly appeared at the doorway and Liz sighed.

"This is an unconventional conversation we're about to have so I hope, you'll protect me on it. I assume you know that Brian Walters was murdered?"

Alaric nodded. "Yeah, we heard about it."

"Well someone used this to stake his heart," Liz said as she showed them the stake that was inside a baggie.

Alaric frowned. "That's one of ours. I stashed some at the Gilbert lake house."

Liz nodded, looking serious. "That's why I came to talk to you, we've only found one set of fingerprints," she looked at Elena. "Yours."

* * *

"So your sister is one of the prime suspects, huh?" Damon's voice rang out amused at the other end. "What is it with you Gilberts and your secrets talents?"

"That's not funny, Damon." Holly said, trying to keep a smile from her face. "She doesn't think that Elena did it, she's just trying to figure out who did using our family's weapons. But who else besides us know about our secret weapons?"

Damon sounded disgusted. "It's Klaus, it has to be, and he's just messing with us."

Holly hesitated. "Do you think it could be Stefan? I mean he's been on edge ever since we forced him to give up the coffins. I know he doesn't hurt human beings, but ever since Klaus-"

"He's been off the rails, got you." He stopped short when he saw Elijah waiting for him. "I've got to go, I'll call you later. I'm having tea with an old friend."

* * *

"Honey, I'm home," Damon sing song as he came in a few hours later and saw Holly in the living room and staring at her phone, waiting for information about Bill Forbes. Bill had been trying to help Tyler break the sire bond and Tyler had injured him which resulted in him being hospitalized. The worst thing was that there had been a freak accident and now Bill was dead with vampire blood in his system and she doubted that vampire hating Bill Forbes would want to be a vampire.

"Get dress." He said handing her a pale pink dress that Damon had gotten from her closet.

Holly frowned as she touched the silky material. "Why? Where are we going?"

"Don't look so smiley, it's not going to be pleasant. You remember backstabbing Original brother that I un daggered?"

She nodded. "Elijah, why?"

"Well, we are going to be having dinner with him tonight." Damon added. "And Klaus and Stefan."

Holly grew even more confused, the last thing she wanted to do was have dinner with Klaus. "And why is that?"

"Oh, come on Holly you like surprises and you'll love this one." Damon smirked. "Get dressed."

Two hours later, Holly, Damon and Stefan entered the Mikaelson's living room where they were greeted by an elegantly dressed Elijah. "Niklaus, our guests have arrived. It's nice to see you again, Holly."

Holly nodded. "You too, it's been a while."

Klaus stepped forward and looked at them. "Damon, Stefan, and Holly Elijah has informed me that you seek an audience very bold so let's settled this like civilized men . . . and lady."

"It's better to indulge him." Elijah warned.

"I didn't come here to eat Klaus," Stefan said ignoring Elijah's advice. "In fact I didn't want to come here at all, but I was told that it was the only way that you would have a conversation with us."

Klaus shrugged. "Well, we can sit down and eat, or I can reach forward and pull out your insides. Your choice."

Holly felt awkward being the only girl at the dining room table and it wasn't helping that Klaus kept staring at her. Why did he keep staring at her?

"Thank you," Holly said to the compelled girl that was serving them dinner. She took a sip of her wine. She would definitely need a lot of alcohol tonight. "So why don't we start this discussion."

"I would love too, love," Klaus pointed at Stefan. "But it seems your friend here is not enjoying the meal."

"We thought we would leave the grumpy Stefan at home." Damon said through clenched teeth.

Stefan reluctantly started eating. "That's the spirt," Klaus looked around the table. "This is nice, dinner all four of us, is this what you had in mind when you pull the dagger out of my brother?"

"Well, I know how he felt about you so the more the merrier," Damon shot back.

"Well, Elijah and I have had our share of quarrels over the years, but we always make it through and just so you lot don't go gossiping to him, I've already come clean to him about our mother," Klaus said. "Isn't that right, brother?"

"That's quite right, Niklaus." Elijah said as he turned to Holly. "So Miss Holly how is your lovely sister, I'm sorry that she couldn't join us this evening."

Holly smiled. "She's fine, Elijah thank you-"she noticed that Klaus wanted to burst out laughing. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing love," Klaus said as he dropped his fork. "It's just the allure of the Petrova doppelganger is still so strong. What do you say brother shall we tell them about Tatia?"

Elijah's jaw tensed.

"He doesn't have to," Holly spoke up. "If he doesn't want too."

"Nonsense," Klaus said. "We both love a good story don't we brother? Tell our guests."

Elijah put down his glass of wine. "When our family first settled here, there was a girl named Tatia, she was an exquisite beauty and every boy wanted to be her suitor even if she had a child from another man and no one loved her more than Niklaus."

Klaus bit on a strawberry. "Oh, I can think of one person than did."

"Wait a minute." Stefan interrupted. "So you both loved the same girl?"

Elijah nodded. "Our mother ended our feud with Tatia by giving us wine laced with her blood, her blood is what made us vampires, our love for Tatia caused fights between us, we even came to blows didn't we brother?"

"But in the end we realize the sacred bond between family." Klaus raised his glass. "Family above all."

"Family above all." Elijah echoed as he clicked his glass against Klaus'. "So why don't we move this evening along and discuss the terms of the proposal, Miss Holly?"

Holly cleared her throat. "We will return the coffin to Klaus as long as he swears to leave with him and his family and never come back so we can live in peace. No grudges."

Elijah turned to Klaus who was staring at Holly with a mocking expression. "The deal sounds fair brother."

Klaus stood up. "I don't think you understand, lady and gentlemen. I need Elena's blood to make more hybrids leaving without her is not an option. Besides how long can you three protect her?"

Damon stood up. "I'm going to get some air." Elijah followed him.

With only Holly and Stefan, Klaus grabbed the blond girl that had been serving them and bit into her neck. "Well, all this truce making has made me thirsty, want a bite?"

Holly glared at him. "Do you really think that's funny? Playing with humans' lives."

"Yes," Klaus said. "And don't give me that patronizing look, we both know you've killed."

"But not for fun, only when I had too."

Their conversation was cut short when Damon and Elijah came back in. "So what do you say Klaus, we gave you our offering, now you counter."

Klaus turned to them. "All right here is my proposal. What Elena needs is to get rid of all of you and live a normal life and fall in love with a human, perhaps that nice football player."

"Matt Donovan?" Damon scoffed, "Really?"

"Yes, why not then in a few years they will pop out the perfect family."

"And continue the Petrova bloodline," Stefan guessed, "So you'll have a doppelganger to drain every few centuries."

"I offer Elena's future happiness and safety, so do we have a deal?"

Stefan stared back at him. "No deal."

Klaus' jaw tightened and Elijah cleared his throat. "Before this turns ugly where are your manners brother, we forget dessert." He pull the cloth off the tray that the blond woman was carrying that held two silver daggers.

"What have you done?"

"What have you've done?" Elijah shot back. "I've learn not to trust your vulgar promises, Klaus we're doing this my way now."

A handsome dark hair man stepped forward. "Kol."

Kol gave him a cold smile. "Long time brother."

A man with long curly hair stabbed a dagger in Klaus' hand. "Finn, don't."

He backed away but ran into Rebekah who stabbed him with a knife. "This is for our mother."

While Klaus busied himself with his angry siblings, Elijah turned to them. "You are free to go. This is family business."

* * *

"I have to say that was pretty awesome," Holly laughed on her way back home. "Klaus was freaked, you and Elijah really had a good plan, undaggering all of the siblings that was priceless."

When she saw that Damon wasn't laughing, she frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Come on, Damon I know you," Holly said. "You can trust me."

"He likes you, you know," Damon continued when Holly looked confused. "Klaus, I've seen the way that he looks at you, the way that he talks to you, all he needs now is to give you flowers."

"Me and Klaus give me a break!" Holly laughed. "The guy terrorized me and my family I'm not going to fall in love with him. Damon look at me." She grabbed his hand. "I love you and only you."

Her cell phone rang. She frowned when she read the text message. Damon looked at her. "What's wrong?"

"We need to go to the hospital," Holly said quickly. "Apparently Ric got some nasty side effects because of the ring and Caroline's father is dead, he decided not to complete the transition."

* * *

"I liked what you've done with the place, Nik." Rebekah said sarcastically as she broke a vase.

Klaus looked down. "I wanted it to be for all of us, a place that we could call home. None of us have to be alone again."

Elijah nodded. "You're right none of us will be."

"We're leaving." Finn said.

"All of us," Rebekah said. "Right after I kill that doppelganger wench and her bitch of a sister, then you will be alone. Always and Forever."

Klaus stood up and snarled. "If you run I will find you and dagger you, I'm the hybrid I cannot be killed! I do not fear anything!"

"You will when we find that coffin." Elijah snapped.

The door opened and a tall, blond woman came in and looked around. "Mother?" Rebekah gasped.

Esther walked towards Klaus. "Look at me, do you know why I am here?"

"To kill me?" Klaus guessed.

Esther shook her head. "Niklaus you are my son, I am here to forgive you. I want us to be a family again."

-End of Chapter Fourteen-


	15. Dangerous Liaisons

**Chapter Fifteen: Dangerous Liaisons**

"I'm so sorry, Care," Holly whispered as she hugged Caroline. They were at the hospital and she couldn't believe that Bill Forbes had died, true she hadn't been fond of the man, but she knew how much Caroline had loved him. "Was it painful?"

She shook her head, her eyes swollen. "No, he died peacefully." She bit her lip. "But who would do that, who would turn him into a vampire."

"I don't know." Holly said firmly. "But we'll figure something out, I promise."

Caroline nodded. "How's Alaric."

"Safe, good, he's forced to stay here for the night," Holly smiled ruefully. "I don't know what's happening to him, the ring it stopped working, he isn't healing like he usually does." The girls exited the hospital and Holly waved to Caroline as she went to her own car.

Holly was just about to open her car door when Rebekah stepped forward and snarled. "Drive much?" she pushed Holly against the car door. "You like to act like some innocent goody two shoes, when in reality you and your sister are backstabbing bitches, I'm going to have a thrill ripping your heart open."

"Rebekah, wait-"

Before Holly could explain Elijah pressed Rebekah against the wall. "Leave." Rebekah stepped forward and Elijah raised an eyebrow. "Are you challenging me?"

Rebekah looked at both Holly and Elijah. "You're pathetic, both of you."

"Thanks," Holly said once Rebekah left. "What brought you here? Miss me already?"

Elijah smiled. "Not exactly, we have a little catching up to do."

* * *

"It was their mother Esther who was sealed in that coffin," Holly explained to the group the following morning as she made coffee. "As is the creepy original witch who made all her children into vampires."

"What?" Damon scoffed. "How is she even alive? I thought her hybrid freak of a son pulled out her heart a thousand years ago."

Holy shook her head as she gave Elena a cup of coffee. "I don't know, according to Elijah she has a few connections in the witching community, she wants to live in peace with Klaus."

Stefan groaned. "She was supposed to be our weapon to kill Klaus. That coffin was the only thing keeping Klaus from ripping us to shreds."

Damon narrowed his eyes. "Anyone else feeling a little use right now?"

"Look, Elijah promised that no one in his family will hurt us," Holly said hoping that she sounded more confident than she actually felt. "And if we can trust anyone is him."

The doorbell rang and Elena went to answered it. She saw that there was a cream colored invitation. "It's an invitation," Elena said as she looked at the group. "Please join the Mikaelson family this evening at seven o'clock for dancing, cocktails, and celebration."

"Who the hell are the Mikaelsons?" Stefan demanded.

"The original family." Elena turned the card around. "There's a note on the back, 'Elena, I think it's time that we finally meet, Esther'"

* * *

All though she hadn't been officially invited to the ball, Holly decided it would be better to go with Elena, Esther couldn't handle all four of them at the same time, could she? She looked inside her closet and frowned she didn't have anything to wear.

"Well, I can't wear this," Holly scoffed as she threw back pair of ripped jeans. The doorbell rang and she frowned as she went downstairs and opened the door. There was a box along with an invitation to the family ball.

Holly flipped the card over and saw that Klaus had scribbled a note-You will look lovely in it, save me a dance. Fondly, Klaus.

Holly pulled off the top of the box and pulled out a long, strapless, red dress along with a diamond necklace and earrings. Holly gasped as she saw it, she had never seen anything so fine, much less owned it.

But why on earth was Klaus giving her presents, didn't he know that she despised him?

"Holly?" Elena called over. "Do you need help with your hair?"

"Just a second." Holly said as she looked from the dress to her closet. It wasn't like she had many options and it was just a dress. She bit her lip, she knew she was going to regret this, but she was going to wear it.

* * *

At seven o' clock and wearing the red dress with her hair in loose curls Holly, holding Damon's arm entered the Mikaelson family parlor that was already filled with guests. "Wow," she whispered.

"I'm going to go with creepy," Damon answered back as he looked at Carol. "I need to speak to her, be right back."

She nodded as she started walking and looking around. Holly stopped short when she saw Klaus staring at her. "Hello."

"You look lovely." Klaus said handing her a glass of champagne, he was wearing a tux.

"Well, this is a ball." Holly shot back. "I'm supposed to look lovely."

"And you do." He was interrupted by Elijah who called everyone to gather around him.

The originals and Esther were standing on their stairway and Elijah nodded. "Welcome and thank you for joining us. You know whenever my family brings us together, it is traditional that we commence the evening with a dance. Tonight's pick is a century's old dance, so please find yourselves a partner and join us."

Holly's eyes linger on Esther, why did she look so familiar?

"It would be rude not to dance you know," Damon whispered in her ear as he squeezed her waist and led her towards the dining room. "You look stunning by the way."

"Thank you." Holly smiled as she gave a small curtsy. "It is tradition."

Thankfully, the ball was easy to follow and Damon made dancing easy, the only thing that Holly disliked was that they changed partners every few minutes and she somehow found herself dancing in Klaus' arms. "Oh, you."

"Yes me," Klaus smirked. "I'm glad you came."

"Well, how can I say no to the Original family?" Holly cocked her head. "Can we please change the subject?"

Klaus twirled her around. "All right, how about how ravishing you look in that dress, red is really your color."

Holly ignored his compliment. "I have to ask though, why are you giving me presents, you've tried to kill me I don't know how many times."

Klaus shrugged. "Consider it a peace offering."

"Very funny, we both know that you don't do peace."

* * *

"Stop staring, it's creepy," Damon said to Rebekah who was his dance partner while Rebekah threw daggers in Holly's direction.

"Of course she looks beautiful," Rebekah said bitterly. "Nik, gave her everything she's wearing the jewelry and that fantastic dress."

Damon stopped short. "Wait, Klaus gave her that dress?"

"Yes, why do you sound so surprise?" Rebekah gave him an evil smirk. "Oh, she didn't tell you, drat that Holly I guess once a backstabber, always one. My guess is that Nik fancies her that's why he's buying her so many pretty things. Take it from me, Damon now that Klaus has a goal on something he won't stop until he achieves it. Oh, well you and Holly had a good run."

"Shut up, Rebekah."

* * *

"Stefan, where's Damon?" Holly asked as she stepped inside a private room where Stefan was signalizing her to join him. "And Elena where-"she saw Damon unconscious. "What did you do?"

"He was being overbearing," Stefan said as it should have been obvious. "Not to mention that Elena needed to speak to Esther alone and Damon wasn't going to allow that so I broke his neck."

"Was that really necessary?" Holly said frustrated.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to get some air." She snapped as she went outside of the Mikaelson home. She saw that there were dozens of horses there and Holly smiled as she petted a small brown one. She remembered when she and Elena were little and their parents would take them to the petting zoo.

"Do you like horses?" Klaus asked as he came in.

"I like all animals, bunnies mostly," Holly turned to him. "I don't get it, why are you so eager to talk to me, I mean you invited me here and you act almost normal."

Klaus smiled. "I fancy you, is that so hard to believe?"

"So all those times you tried to torture me were signs of affection?" Holly asked in disbelief. "Yes, it's kind of hard to believe."

"No, it's not," Klaus said as he walked towards her. "You're beautiful, you're strong, and you're brave, you're not afraid to stand up to me even if it means I can crush your skull."

"Lovely." Holly said. "But I'm already dating Damon."

"Ah, yes the eldest Salvatore. I wonder how long that will last," Klaus looked at her amused. "Oh, come on love don't glare at me we both know that Damon has a wandering eye."

"Yeah, well things with me and Damon are perfect."

"I can see that," Klaus said sarcastically. "You know horses are loyal unlike people. My father hunted me down for a 1000 years and the closest he came was when he killed my horse with his sword."

Holly crossed her arms over her chest. "So I guess you two weren't the type to sit down for father and son chats."

"No, we won't."

Holly suddenly felt awkward and uncomfortable. "Well, I'm going to go inside. I need to find my sister."

* * *

"Holly," Elena raised her hand to her chest when she saw Holly enter the hallway. "You scared me!"

"Sorry," Holly said impatiently. "How was it? What did Esther say?"

Elena started telling her about her conversation with Esther about how she actually hated her vampire children, how she had used Elena's blood to bind them together in tonight's wine and that Finn sacrificed himself to be killed, and that if they killed one all of them are dead.

"Don't you see Holly, we'll finally be able to get rid of them!"

"But what about Elijah and Rebekah, I mean . . . we can't just let them blindly die. Even I don't wish that on them." Holly frowned. "And what makes you think that we can trust Esther? I sense something weird about her-"

Holly broke off when Elijah came towards them. "Elena, Holly," he turned to Elena. "How was my mother, Elena should I be concern about her intentions?"

Elena gave Holly a warning glance. "She was just apologizing for all the trouble that has been going on."

"So she has forgiven Klaus?"

Elena nodded.

Elijah looked satisfied. "Well, enjoy the party ladies."

Once Elijah was out of earshot she turned towards Elena. "Are you crazy? You just lied to his face."

"I had too," Elena said defensively. "Holly, we need to get the Originals out of our lives for good." She stopped short. "I think Klaus wants you to come with him."

Holly turned around slightly and watched Klaus raising his glass as if toasting for her.

* * *

"So what did you want to show me that it couldn't wait until after dessert?" Holly said trying to ignore the guilt in her voice. The original siblings had taken the wine which meant that they were all bound together and here Klaus was being decent. She looked around the painting on the walls. "Wow, you did all of this?"

"I did." Klaus sounded almost embarrassed. "Do you like them?"

"Yeah, they are . . . impressive." she said looking for the right words for the beautiful paintings She stopped one that had an angel.

"I painted a landscape in a church in Italy," Klaus said. "Not that anyone would notice. Have you ever been to Italy?"

Holly bit her lip. "I never been anywhere, actually. I've always been stuck in this little town unless you count the time that you and I meet when I was on a break from Mystic Falls."

Klaus smiled. "I'll take anywhere you want Rome, Paris, London. I'll take you wherever your heart desires." He touched her neck and played with the diamonds. "I'll give you anything your little heart desires."

"Klaus, stop." Holly pulled back. "Don't do this, don't try to buy me off with things. Yes, you're being nice now, but how long will it last?" She took off the diamond necklace. "Look I know you've been through a lot, especially with your dad, but buying people off and threatening them isn't going to work. You need to try and understand people, but you don't even try."

"And I thought we were having a nice time." Klaus said coldly. "You may leave now."

* * *

"Where's your lovely diamond necklace?" Damon asked Holly once she exited Klaus' drawing room and reentered the parlor that was semi empty. "Or is Klaus going to get you something prettier and grander you know like that dress and jewelry that you didn't bother to tell me were from Klaus."

"I didn't tell you because I knew you would get like this." Holly said calmly.

"What paranoid and judgmental?" Damon questioned. "God, I wonder why that would happen any other person would be happy to have their girlfriend receive presents from a psycho!"

"Will you lower your voice," Holly hissed. "Look the gift from Klaus don't mean anything, he's just trying to form peace-"

"Yeah, so that he can stab you in the back!"

"You're not listening!" Holly snapped. "You never listen or try to understand my side, you just try to make up stuff and control everything. You need to listens to me Damon."

Damon stopped short. "Then I guess I won't bother you anymore."

"What are you talking about?" Holly asked.

"You know perfectly well, Holly," Damon said. "We're over."

* * *

"You're not having second thoughts are you?" Finn asked Esther who was positioned at her desk.

"No," Esther shook her head. "It's just Elijah, he's so noble. You do understand what this means don't you tonight I will bind you together."

"I understand," Finn said. "And I will be prepared to die."

Esther shook her head. "I was hoping that I didn't have to do this, I was really relying on Holly I didn't expect her to be so weak, though it didn't help that the doppelganger turned her into a vampire. Never mind, we must complete the link." She cut Finn's hand and blood poured over the paper and she started muttering the spell.

She pulled back after a few seconds. "It is complete."

* * *

Holly tried to stop crying, but it was nearly impossible as she tried to wipe the mascara from her eyes. Had she taken things too far? Should she have said something? Holly closed the door behind her, she just wanted to take off this stupid dress and crawl into bed.

She stopped at the front door and saw that someone had left a scroll with a pink ribbon. "What does he want now?"

Holly opened the picture and saw that it was the picture of a rabbit, at the bottom Klaus had scribbled, thank you for your honesty.

After the rotten night that she had, had, she couldn't help but smile.

* * *

Rebekah entered the Grill and saw Matt putting ice on his injured fist. "I'm sorry about Kol," she said referring to when Kol attacked him at the party, partly her fault. "He's a lunatic, may I buy you an apology drink."

Matt stood up. "Look, Rebekah you're pretty and fun, but I really need you to leave me alone."

"Ouch," Damon said as Matt left and Rebekah was standing alone. "Rejected by the captain of the football team."

"Shut up, Damon." Rebekah scoffed. "Shouldn't you be with your adoring Holly?"

"We broke up, she felt suffocated by me and like you said your brother is quite the charmer," Damon said trying to leave the bitterness out of his voice. "Besides you would have broken Matt in a second."

"Are you saying that I can't be gentle?"

"No, I'm just saying that you need someone more resistible."

Rebekah raised an eyebrow suggestively as she pressed her hand against Damon's chest. "And who would that be?"

-End of Chapter Fifteen-

Thanks for your reviews!


	16. All My Children

**Chapter Sixteen: All My Children**

"So let's not make a big deal out of this, shall we?" Rebekah said still wearing her green dress from last night as Damon followed her towards the door. "I'm sure you're come calling soon enough without your precious Holly in the picture."

"Let's not hold our breath." Damon said sarcastically as he opened the door. "I'm through with women at the moment, especially Holly-"

"Opps," Rebekah let out a delicate sigh as she saw Holly standing in front of them looking a combination of both hurt and shocked. "Now, we're even no hard feeling Holly, darling."

"Goodbye, Rebekah." Holly hissed. "Don't let the door hit you on your way out."

Holly closed the door once Rebekah left and followed Damon into the parlor where he was pouring himself a drink. "I came to apologize, apparently I spoke to soon. It's nice to know that you moved on so fast."

"Can we just drop it Holly?" Damon asked as he poured himself a drink. "You wanted to be as free as a bird without me breathing down your neck. I granted you that wish, now we're both free of each other."

Holly felt the guilt, but at that moment she was too annoyed at Damon sleeping with Rebekah. "So is this how it's going to be, I hurt your feelings and now you're lashing out at me?"

"Well, maybe for once it didn't have nothing to do with you." Damon sarcastically raised his glass. "Did you ever thought of that?"

Holly stiffened. "I don't know if Elena told you, yet but Esther is planning on killing her children. She linked them together with a spell if one Original dies, they all die." She saw Damon's blank face. "Hold it are you not listening to me, Esther is going to kill them."

"Yes, we get rid of them once and for all, if I remember correctly at some point you wanted Klaus dead." Damon narrowed his eyes. "What changed?"

"I did," Holly responded. "I may hate Klaus, but I don't want him dead at least not now, and Elijah even Rebekah don't deserve to die like this. Why do I even bother, your heart is made of stone."

She turned to go away, but Damon blocked her path. "Don't do anything to screw this up, Holly."

"He's right." Stefan stepped into the room. "Klaus has to die. They all do."

Holly scoffed. "You two are unbelievable."

* * *

"He was gloating," Holly fumed to the girls as they paced around her bedroom. "Like he wanted to prove to me that our relationship meant nothing, I say one little thing and it falls to pieces." She looked at the burning sage and then at Elena. "Are you sure that this is what Esther used."

Elena nodded. "Pretty sure."

"It's not working." Bonnie sighed. "It's a tricky spell."

Caroline opened the door. "Yeah, I can still hear everything you guys are saying."

"Well, when Esther did it, there was a lot more smoke." Elena pointed out.

As Bonnie tried again, she raised her head in their direction. "Speaking of Esther you should know that she came to visit me and Abby this morning. She wanted to introduce herself it was our bloodline and ancestry that brought her back. She probably thought that she was being polite."

Elena frowned. "Is there any way to stop her from channeling you for power, look before the sacrifice ritual, Elijah found me a way keep me alive and now Holly and I are in the same position and we're just going to let them die?"

"It's no use feeling guilty for something you have no control over." Caroline said.

"Besides you won't be able to do anything, tonight is the full moon Esther will use that to harvest the energy of a celestial event. She asked me and Abby to join her. They will be dead by tonight."

* * *

Holly didn't care if he friends killed her, the guilt was too great. She needed to tell someone. She needed to tell Klaus. She walked inside the Grill and noticed that he was having a drink with his younger brother who she had seen at the ball, but he didn't know his name.

"Klaus, can I speak to you?"

"Of course love."

Kol cleared his throat. "Aren't you going to introduce me to the Petrova Doppelganger, brother?"

"I'm not the doppelganger, I'm her sister," Holly said. "I'm Holly."

Kol kissed her hand dramatically. "I'm Kol, pleasure I'm sure."

"That's enough Kol," Klaus said annoyed. "Follow me, Holly we can talk outside."

They went outside and Klaus turned to her. "So what do you want to talk about? Literature? Paris-"

"About how your mother is trying to kill both you and your siblings all at once." Holly said interrupting the flirtation.

Klaus' smile fell. "What did you say about my mother?"

Holly quickly told him about the conversation that she had with Elena and he seemed to grow angrier. "I see," Klaus said as he looked up. "I thought you wanted me dead, why tell me?"

"I did at some point," she admitted. "But you may be terrible, but that doesn't mean that I want your siblings dead as well."

Klaus nodded as he kissed her cheek. "Thank you, Holly. Your loyalty will be rewarded."

* * *

"Mother, you have a visitor." Finn said as he stepped aside so that Holly could step inside.

Esther put down her book and smiled. "Ah, yes Holly I was expecting you. Please come on in."

Holly showed her the note that had been hand delivered. "You're the one that wanted to see me, may I ask why?"

"Sit," Esther ordered. "I believe I have a confession to make, something that may have cause a whole lot of confusion."

"Like?"

She took a deep breath. "Didn't you ever wonder why you were the only witch of your ancestry, how you got those strange dreams no one else got?"

Holly looked startled. "I don't know . . . I just thought I was special."

"Yes," Esther said. "You were special because I made you special. Thanks to a few of my witch friends I was able to make you a witch, all of the dreams were messages from me."

"Those dreams nearly drove me insane!" Holly snapped. "Why would you-"

"It was necessary," Esther said plainly. "In the future I was hoping to guide you in those dreams in order to kill my children, you put an end to that when you became a vampire. You became one those abominations."

"What is wrong with you?" she hissed. "Why would you turn me into this little machine in order to kill vampires?"

"I told you it was necessary." Esther said coolly as she tapped Holly's forehead making her fall unconscious. "I'm afraid that we're going to have to cut short our visit."

"Why did you need the girl?" Finn muttered at he stared at Holly.

"Well, partly because she is of no use to me anymore and partly because we need her soul as a binding to the earth for the spell to take place." Esther said. "Come along, Finn."

* * *

"I can't find Holly or Elena anywhere," Stefan stopped short when he saw Elijah speaking to Damon. "What is he doing here?"

"He has Elena," Damon said through gritted teeth. "And Esther took Holly to bind her to the sacrifice ritual."

"I can see that I have gotten your attention," Elijah said coolly. "I need your help to kill my mother, unfortunately with nature at her side she doesn't want to stay dead."

Stefan crossed his arms over his chest. "And what are we supposed to do?"

Elijah narrowed his eyes. "The witches that released my mother, she is drawing power from their line, which means that, that line needs to be severe."

"He means we need to kill them." Damon said.

"I would do it myself, but I have no idea where they are and they trust you. You have until 9:06 to complete the task."

"How super specific of you." Damon said sarcastically.

Elijah ignored him. "By 9:07 the moon will be full and my mother will have the power needed to kill me and my family. If you don't stop her before then Rebekah will kill Elena and Holly will also be dead. So we all have our timeline I suggest you get started."

* * *

Klaus, Elijah, and Kol were approaching the path where Esther was trying to complete the spell. "Mother, they are coming!" Finn warned her.

Esther shook her head. "It's too soon, the moon is not high enough go quickly," Esther looked at Holly who was positioned in the center of the circle, she was unconscious and there was some blood pouring from her mouth. "My sons come forward." She whispered. "It's ok, they can't enter."

"Mother what is this?" Klaus scowled as he tried to get inside the circle to retreat Holly, but bounced back. "Release her immediately!"

"I'm afraid I can't, Holly is the one of the two things bounding the spell." Esther said coldly.

"That's lovely," Kol said sarcastically. "We're stuck here while the favorite son plays sacrificial lamb. How pathetic you are, Finn."

"Be quiet, Kol." Esther scolded. "Your brother knows virtue that you cannot even imagine."

"Whatever you're think of us killing your children will be an atrocity," Elijah said through gritted teeth.

"My only regret is that I didn't let you die a 1000 years ago," Esther said calmly. "For a thousand years I've been force to watch you shed blood and kill innocent people, each one of you worse than the last. This ends now. If you've come to plead for your life, I'm afraid you've wasted your time."

* * *

Bonnie and Abby were walking down the basement of the old house where Esther had instructed them to wait until the ritual was finished. When she noticed that Abby wasn't following her she turned around. "Abby?" instead she ran into Stefan. "Stefan what's going on?"

"They took Elena and Esther took Holly to bind the spell to the earth, they are both going to die unless we stop Esther." Stefan said. "If we can't stop you, we need to figure out another way to stop Esther from channeling more power."

Bonnie's face turned pale. "No, Stefan, no." she said desperately. "What are your going to do? Esther is channeling everyone from our ancestry both living and dead."

Stefan shook his head. "Esther is drawing from the witches, the only way to cut off her power is if one of you is no longer a witch."

At that moment Damon grabbed Abby who was struggling in his arms as Damon force fed her some of his blood. "This will only hurt a second." He whispered. And then he snapped her neck.

* * *

"Hey, you finally woke up." Damon said with a crooked smirk when Holly opened her eyes, it took Holly a minute to realize that she was lying down on the Salvatore's coach. "Took you a while."

"What happened?" she asked thoroughly confused. "I was with Esther and-"

"Mother Bitch got you and was planning to bind you to the earth to complete her creepy ritual to kill her entire family. She failed miserably and now she and suicidal son are gone."

"So the Originals are still alive?"

"Yep." Damon studied her face. "What's wrong? I thought you would be jumping for joy."

"I am happy." She said. "I was just remembering what Esther told me, she was the one that has been controlling my dreams since the start, she was the one that gave me my powers. Apparently she was using me to kill her family and end the entire vampire race that screwed up when Katherine turned me into a vampire." Holly raised her head when Damon didn't say anything. "Damon, about this morning. . . I'm sorry, I overacted. We are broken up so if you want to be with Rebekah you should be."

When Damon didn't say anything again, she stood up awkwardly. "I should probably go, thanks for tonight."

"Holly, wait," Damon interrupted. "You should know something about Bonnie and Abby. It was the only way to save you and Elena and to stop the ritual."

Holly frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"We had to turn Abby into a vampire."

* * *

"I thought you would be gone by now," Klaus said as he heard Rebekah come behind him. "Kol and Elijah are leaving and Esther and Finn have left as well."

"I hated you when I found out that you killed mother." Rebekah admitted. "But after a 1000 years I've realized that you're the only one that has never left me."

"Well, aren't we a pair." Klaus scoffed. "The important thing is that Holly is safe and we aren't dead."

"There's something you need to see," Rebekah told him as she handed him her phone that played a video of when she had been stuck in the cave with Elena. "Look at the images behind Elena. There's a native worshipping to the white oak tree. That's their native calendar."

Klaus took the phone from her. "That can't be right."

Rebekah nodded. "A white oak tree 300 years after we fled the old world. There must have been a sapling for the new tree to grow. It's not over yet, Nik."

-End of Chapter Sixteen-


	17. 1912

**Chapter Seventeen: 1912**

Holly practically ran into the Mystic Falls police station after receiving a call from Sherriff Forbes saying that Meredith Fell had accused Ric of murder. She practically ran into Damon and before she could open her mouth he said, "Ric's fine, the sheriff wants me to stay out of it."

Holly raised an eyebrow. "But you're not going to, are you? I know Ric didn't kill anyone and we're just going to stand here and do nothing?"

"Well, I guess I could rip out Meredith's lying tongue," Damon smirked. "Maybe feed it to the squirrels."

"You're not helping," Holly said irritated. "Caroline just spoke to Bonnie since she won't answer my calls, Abby is going to complete the transition." When Damon didn't say anything she emphasize. "A little compassion might be nice."

"Fine, her and her mom must be really hurting right now." Damon said sarcastically. "Should I send muffins?"

"Ok, now you're just being mean."

"I'm mean, you hate me, and the world is back on its axis." Damon continued.

"Look, Damon just because you and I are broken up doesn't mean we have to be mean to each other." Holly said. "Look, can't we just be friends at least?"

Damon shrugged. "Sure, Holly friends. Whatever."

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Holly said as she looked at Elena as they walked towards Mystic Falls hospital, Elena wanted to question Meredith since she was the one that made the accusations against Alaric. "We don't exactly have proof."

"And she doesn't either," Elena pointed out as they walked through the double doors. "And if she does, well then she's going to have to speak to us."

They didn't even have to search for Meredith, she walked towards them and said curtly. "Whatever case you have to make against Alaric make it quick. I'm due in surgery in five minutes."

"We don't have to make a case, because he didn't do anything." Elena said through gritted teeth.

"How do you know?" Meredith turned to face them. "How well do you two really know him? Yes, he's your friend and he lived with you two for a while, but how well do you really know him?"

Holly crossed her arms over her chest, not liking Meredith's tone. "Well enough, why do you have something to add?"

"Let me tell you what I know, he was arrested four times before the age of 21. His wife Isobel filed two restraining orders against him." Meredith scoffed. "And how would you two know any of this? You took pity on an alcoholic vampire hunter and he's you friend of course you don't know any of this."

"He would never harm a human!" Holly snapped. "We know him well enough."

Meredith looked at the twins. "You two date vampires, it shouldn't come as a shock to you that your guardian is a murderer."

* * *

"Thanks for coming, Matt I know it was short notice," Holly said as Elena and her watched as Matt fiddled with the lock of Meredith's apartment. "I can't get in since I'm not invited so you and Elena need to find out whatever information we can to give to Sherriff Forbes."

Matt nodded as he opened the door. "No, problem, just keep a lookout."

Matt and Elena began searching the apartment, looking through drawers, desks, and pieces of paper. "What exactly are we looking for?"

"Anything that helps us prove that Meredith was wrong. Plus Meredith is a Fell which means," she headed towards the closet and tapped the walls until she found a secret passageway and pulled it open. "Skeletons in the closet just like a true Fell."

Matt helped her pulled out a box of documents and handed her a couple of folders.

"Brian Walters, Bill Forbes." Elena muttered as she went through the files. "Alaric Saltzman." She looked at the dozens of papers stuck inside. "She has everything on him."

Matt pulled out an old leather journal from the bottom of the box. "What is this?"

"It's one of our old Gilbert journals." Elena frowned. "What is it doing here?"

They heard Holly whistling indication that Meredith was approaching. Elena and Matt hastily tried to put everything together. "Hurry." Elena hissed, she could hear Holly and Meredith arguing.

The door opened and suddenly they were both staring at Meredith.

* * *

"What were you three thinking?" Liz said exasperated as she stared at Holly, Matt, and Elena who were squeezed in her small office after Meredith had turned them in and even though Holly was a vampire, she decided to go with them, just to avoid more problems. "You do understand that you broke the law?"

"Sherriff, please understand," Holly said exasperated. "We know Alaric, you know Alaric he would never do anything like this."

Mat nodded. "And Elena and I searched through her stuff, she has dozens of stuff of Alaric, stuff that she shouldn't have."

Liz put her hands of her hips. "Unfortunately I can't answer those questions, Matt because you broke into her home to find it. Do you know how much I'm already protecting you? Meredith came to me this evening before she found you and told me that there was some mistake and that Alaric wasn't the killer."

"Sorry." Elena said blushing.

Liz sighed. "Just please get out of my office and go home, Alaric will be released shortly."

After they said goodbye to Matt, Holly and Elena started walking towards Holly's car. She sniffed the air. Elena turned to her. "What's wrong?"

"Something smells of blood." Holly started walking towards the ally and Elena followed her. Both girls stopped short when they saw Stefan feeding on a girl with Damon giving him an encouraging smile.

"Stefan!" Elena shouted.

Stefan stopped feeding as he bowed down his head looking ashamed. "Elena."

"What are you trying to make him do?" Holly hissed at Damon.

"It's just a little experiment." Damon snapped back. "No need to make it more dramatic than it needs to be."

"Dramatic?" Holly frowned as she looked at Stefan. "Can't you see that you're hurting him?" she turned to Elena. "Let's go. Come on."

* * *

"Here, drink." Holly said as she pushed the mug of tea towards Elena. "It will help you feel better, I promise."

Elena pushed back her cup of tea. "He feed on a girl, Holly." She said. "Stefan feed on a girl right in front of me, I thought he changed-I thought-"

"Elena, don't blame Stefan for this." Holly scolded. "You know how he has a hard time controlling his hunger and I have a feeling that it was Damon who put him up for this. I saw Stefan's face, he hated himself for what he did and I know that he would never want to hurt you. Just give him time ok?"

Elena nodded as she pulled out an old leather journal from her bag. "Here, Matt gave it to me." She shrugged. "We found stuff in those journals before, maybe we can figure out what's making Ric so sick."

The door opened and Ric came in looking exhausted as Elena and Holly rushed towards him. "Are you all right?" they asked.

Alaric nodded. "I'm all right."

* * *

Later that night, Alaric was heating up water for some tea when the doorbell rang. He answered it and frowned. It was Meredith. "What do you want?"

"I know, I'm the last person you want to talk too, but we need to talk." Meredith said. "I know what's making you so sick, can I come in?"

After a few seconds, Alaric let her in. "What do you want to show me?"

Meredith started placing documents, photos, and old weapons on the breakfast counter. "Like sheriff Forbes said the victims were killed with your weapons and you yourself were attacked with a knife, an injury that could easily have been self-inflicted."

"It's impossible!" Ric snapped. "I would know if I were killing people!"

"Would you? Have you had blackouts? Instances of lost time?"

"You're insane."

"No, but I think you might be," Meredith pointed to the Gilbert ring. "This ring lets you cheat death, how many times can you die before it changes you?" she grabbed his hand. "You're sick and I want to help."

They heard footsteps coming down the stairs, Elena was crying and Holly was holding the Gilbert journal to an open page. "I think she's right."

-End of Chapter Seventeen-


	18. Break on Through

**Chapter Eighteen: Break on Through**

"Everything ok?" Holly asked Alaric as she handed him back his coat after Meredith had completed her examinations. Meredith had insisted on doing several tests in order to make sure that nothing was wrong with him.

Alaric nodded. "Yeah, everything is normal and that's because I didn't kill anyone or stab myself." He sounded frustrated. "Or I'm going insane just like your ancestor who wore that ring."

Holly quickly handed him back the ring. "Look the ring was made by a Bennett witch, maybe Bonnie can fix it."

Damon came strolling into the room and took one look at Ric. "Ready to ditch this house of horrors? Wow, you look terrible."

Ric gave a weak nod. "I'm just going to talk to Meredith be right back."

Damon cocked his head and looked at Holly. "Aw, what's wrong? Scowling doesn't make you cute you now."

"You know exactly what's wrong," Holly snapped. "Tell me do you enjoy torturing your brother, you know what being around too much blood does for him."

"I wasn't torturing him, Holly I was helping him." Damon corrected. "The only way that Stefan is going to be able to control the bloodlust is to take control. Besides you and Elena weren't supposed to barge in on our tutoring sessions."

Holly scoffed. "Some tutoring."

Damon shrugged. "Believe what you want, I am helping him in my own way." He walked towards his car. "Besides Stefan wanted me to tell you that he found another journal of Samantha Gilbert and he wanted to give it to you."

* * *

Holly stepped inside the Salvatore's living room and paused when she saw Stefan drinking a glass of whisky. "Hi, how are you feeling?"

"Better." He paused. "How's Elena, I didn't mean-"

"Elena understands Stefan." Holly lied, but smiled when Stefan's face relaxed. "Damon said that you had something for me."

Stefan nodded as he handed her a leather bound book. "You don't have to read it though, I can just tell you what happened. I was there."

Holly paused and Stefan continued. "Samantha Gilbert was eventually committed to an insane asylum and she gave herself a lobotomy with a pair of knitting needles. If the same thing is happening to Alaric, there's nothing you can do."

Holly frowned. Stefan couldn't be right, could he? "Wow, kind of piece of morbid family history, but I have to at least try, Stefan. Alaric doesn't deserve this."

* * *

Holly was growing more and more frustrated as she flipped through the pages of the journal which were getting her more and more worried. She didn't want Ric to go insane, she couldn't stand another funeral.

"Hey are you busy?" Alaric asked tiredly as Holly quickly hid the journal.

"No, what's up?"

Alaric pushed a piece of paper towards her. "This is a list of my bank accounts, my passwords, my will, just in case things don't go my way."

Holly pushed the piece of paper back towards him. "No, Ric don't think like that. Everything is going to be fine, I promise."

Alaric shook his head. "Don't worry about me, Holly. You don't have to worry about everything."

Holly felt a lump in her throat as his phone rang. "Hi, Caroline? Did Bonnie find something that can help?" Bonnie was still too upset to talk to her or Elena, but she knew that she cared about Ric as well.

"So Abby thinks that Bonnie can reverse the damage of the spell, apparently the same thing happens to witches when they use dark magic," Caroline said. "I'm going to stay with Bonnie, oh wait Bonnie wants to talk to you."

For the first time in days Holly heard Bonnie's voice. "I need a personal effect of Alaric's, something he wore before he stared wearing the ring. Be ready to do the spell when I get there."

Holly nodded. "Thanks Bonnie for everything . . . and I'm really sorry about Abby."

"Found anything?" Alaric asked hopefully.

Holly nodded smiling. "Bonnie says that there might be a spell, but she needs something personal of yours. Something that you wore before the ring."

Meredith entered the room holding tranquilizers and medicines. She nodded her hellos to Ric and Holly. "Well, there's my wedding ring back at the loft. It's in an aspirin bottle, probably covered by cobwebs."

"You'll stay here with me." Meredith said firmly.

"Ok," Alaric turned to her. "Can you managed it, Holly?"

She nodded.

* * *

"Stefan, hi," Holly said confused once she arrived back at the house. She had been busy getting Alaric's wedding ring when she saw Stefan waiting for her by the porch. "What are you doing here? Are you looking for Elena-"

"No," Stefan interrupted. "I told Elena, it would be better if we didn't see each other for a few days until the whole bloodlust thing calm down, but I did find some interesting info about Samantha Gilbert."

"Like what?"

"She was under suicide watch, no jewelry, no personal effects and apparently she killed a guard and nurse when she was at the insane asylum. What I'm trying to tell you is that the violent behavior continues with or without the ring." He paused looking at Holly's upset face. "I'm sorry Holly, but you and Elena and Jeremy are going to have to think about what you're going to do if Bonnie's spell doesn't work."

"It will work." Holly said shakily. "It has to work." She opened the door and Stefan followed.

Alaric was coming down the stairs, wiping his hands with a towel. "There you guys are."

"Hi," Holly said noticing the blood on the rag that Alaric was using to clean himself up. "Where's Meredith?"

"She was called into some last minute surgery, but she'll be back later."

Holly sniffed the air. Blood. The air stank with blood. Alaric was lying. Holly gave one quick nod to Stefan before Stefan pressed him against the wall. Alaric soon became unconscious as Stefan put him down on the floor and glanced back at Holly. "There's blood, I know I need you to come with me."

Holly nodded as she followed him upstairs towards the bathroom. The entire bathroom was caked with blood and a weak Meredith was lying on the floor. Holly saw the little veins popping around Stefan's face. "You're ok, Stefan you're ok."

She bit her wrist and fed Meredith some blood. "You're going to be ok, Meredith."

* * *

"Bonnie, hey," Holly said as he hugged Bonnie who came into the room. "Sorry, I'm all bloody, it's been a pretty rough evening."

Bonnie nodded "I can imagine." She handed her a jar. "These are some herbs that Abby and I picked out it should help Alaric control his alter ego. He needs to take them twice a day."

Holly nodded. "Thanks, Bonnie how is Abby doing?"

"The transition has been hard, but I'm helping her through it. She's going to be ok."

Holly bit her lip. "I'm sorry, Bonnie I didn't want this to happen. I'm sorry."

Bonnie hugged her tightly. "I know, it just sucks you know."

* * *

"What are you so happy about?" Stefan asked as he came in and saw Damon drinking and smiling. "Sage double crossed you, the white oak tree is a piled of ash, and Alaric has a psychotic alter ego."

"You know Stefan I'm the kind of person that looks to the brighter side of things, the tree might be destroy but," Damon handed him a piece of paper. "We still have the welcome sign that is made off the same white oak."

"They think all the wood burned."

"I sold my rage, Sage and Rebekah bought it."

Stefan smiled. "We have a weapon."

"Game's back on brother, now let's go kill some Originals."

-End of Chapter Eighteen-


	19. The Murder of One

**Chapter Nineteen: The Murder of One**

"Hey, what's with the secret meeting text?" Matt asked Elena and Caroline as they meet up in the woods. They had all gotten a text from Damon telling them to meet him here at exactly three o' clock.

Elena shrugged. "Stefan just told us to meet them here."

Damon and Stefan at that moment came in holding up a bag. "You're here good."

"Why did you call us?" Matt questioned.

"We found some more white oak stake, long story, wait for the movie." Damon smirked.

Elena brighten. "Does that mean that you have a weapon that could kill Klaus?"

"Nope," Stefan dropped the bag so that they could see the stakes. "We all have a weapon."

"Why isn't Holly here?" Caroline questioned as she looked around for the twin, she knew that Bonnie was still upset that Abby had bailed on her, but why wouldn't Holly show up?

Stefan and Damon exchanged gazes. "We, um decided to keep her out of this one."

"What Stefan is trying to say is that Holly has a bad habit of joining pity parties," Damon told the rest of the group. "We don't need anyone whose going to let their feelings get in the way. So no one tells Holly about any of this, got it? So who wants to practice first?"

* * *

"What's going on between you and Holly?" Alaric asked once Damon and him were back at the Salvatore house looking for a place to hide their own stakes. "She's been kind of quiet."

"Oh, didn't you hear?" Damon said sarcastically as he started opening the drawers. "Apparently she thinks I'm a controlling asshole."

"Well, you are." Ric chuckled. They heard a crash. "What was that?"

"I'll go check it out." Damon said as he started walking up the stairs, only to be stabbed by Rebekah. "Hello, lover. You and I are going to have so much fun together."

* * *

"Remind me again why you volunteered to come with me?" Bonnie looked at Holly who was seated beside her in Klaus' extravagant mansion helping her look through spell books. Holly had been with Bonnie when Klaus had come to collect her to unlink the Originals and Holly had insisted on coming along. "Not that I'm complaining, but you know."

Holly shrugged. "I owed you one and I'm here to make sure that Klaus doesn't tear you into little pieces."

Bonnie snorted.

"I don't hear any chanting," Klaus said annoyed as he stepped inside the room. "What is taking so long?"

"I found the spell," Bonnie scowled as she pointed to the inside of the book. "I just don't know if I'm strong enough."

"I'll help her practice," Holly said looking at him. "Just give us a little time-"

"No offense, love, but last time I checked you were a vampire, how exactly are you going to help her?"

"I was a witch before, I can help her." Holly stubbornly shot back. "Just give me a few minutes," she heard a scream through the room. Why did it sound so familiar? "What was that?"

Klaus shrugged. "I wouldn't let it bother you, love."

Bonnie glared at him. "Well, it does bother me, you bother me."

Klaus scoffed at Bonnie. "You're being dramatic, Bonnie. I've studied the grimore and I know you need the bloods of me and my siblings and here they are." He pulled out little flasks that had each of the sibling's blood. "Now you only need mine." He handed a knife and a flask towards Holly.

Holly sighed as she used the knife to cut into his palm and let the blood fall down on the piece of paper. She nodded once towards Bonnie and Bonnie began pouring the rest of the sibling's blood and started chanting a spell. The paper burst into flames. "There." Bonnie said looking at Klaus with pure hatred. "Done."

Klaus smirked. "Now, that wasn't so hard was it? Let me accompany you to the door. Holly, are you sure you don't want to stay for dinner?"

Holly raised an eyebrow. "You threaten my friend and then you invite me to dinner?"

"Fair point, let me walk you outside." Klaus opened the parlor door and they ran into Rebekah.

Rebekah pursed her lips. "Leaving so soon?" her eyes landed on Holly. "And what are you doing here being the witch's cheerleader?"

Holly glared.

Klaus squeezed Holly's shoulder and she pulled away. "Sister, be nice."

Rebekah sigh. "Fine, thank you Bonnie, bye Holly." She stepped aside and Holly gasped when she saw the sight. Damon was hanging by the walls by some kind of bear traps. "What did you do to him?" she tried to untangle him, but Rebekah stepped forward.

"I wouldn't." Rebekah hissed. "He's my plaything, not yours."

"Are you insane?" she hissed.

"Perhaps." She looked at Bonnie. "You better tell Stefan that if he wants his brother back he and I are going to have a little chat."

* * *

"What were you doing here?" Damon muttered as Holly started cleaning up some of the blood with a Kleenex.

"Trying to prevent Klaus from killing Bonnie," she said. "You?"

Damon didn't really want to tell Holly that he slept with both Rebekah and Sage to get information. "Long story." He stared at the doorway looking at Stefan who was just coming in. "Oh, look my brother the hero."

Stefan put down the bag in front of Rebekah and Klaus. "I came here to make a deal, eight stakes in exchanged for my brother, they were made from the part of wickery bridge that you forgot to burn."

"That's impossible." Rebekah shook her head.

Stefan raised an eyebrow. "Is it? Because Finn is dead."

Rebekah glared at him. "You killed my brother?"

Stefan ignored her as he looked at Klaus. "Eight of the last stakes that can kill you in exchanged for my brother."

"And how do I know there aren't any more?" Klaus looked around the room. "I can't ask Holly because she was here all day and looks completely clueless, but I can ask your brother." He grabbed Damon by the chin. "How many more stakes are there that can kill me?"

"Eleven." Damon choked out.

Klaus threw Stefan a cold smile. "So not eight yet," he approached him. "So if you know what's good for you, you will bring me the other three stakes or all of you will find yourselves without a head. And I'll keep Holly and Damon here to make sure you return."

"This is ridiculous." Rebekah scoffed as she untied Damon. "I brought him here, he can leave when I say, just bring us the stakes and you shall live." Rebekah exited the door with the bags.

"Bring us the rest of the stakes or I will rage war against your love ones." Klaus said as he looked at Stefan. "That I will swear."

* * *

"Why didn't you tell me?" Holly asked once she and Damon were alone and out of Klaus' grip. She couldn't believe that Damon had lied to her. That her entire friends and her sister had lied to her about having the stakes. "Why didn't you tell me that you were planning on murdering the entire original family, if Bonnie hadn't unlink them-"

"This, this is why I didn't tell you, Holly," Damon said as he turned around. "Because you get emotional and you get attached to people that aren't worth saving."

Holly scoffed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you talking about Klaus or yourself?"

"Does it matter? Besides it may be good that Bonnie unlink them."

"And why is that?"

"Because according to the text that Elena and Caroline have sent me, when an Original dies, their entire sire line dies with them. I guess we should be glad that we aren't joining Finn and Sage."

"Damon, wait," Holly cried out. "This has got to stop, the lying, and the sneaking around. I don't like it. I want you to tell me things, I want to be a part of your life even if we're not together anymore." When Damon didn't say anything, she bit her lip. "But I guess my opinions don't matter."

* * *

"Where is it?" Damon asked Alaric as he opened the door of his apartment. "I want to find the stake before Klaus has a chance of rearranging my body."

"You're in a lovely mood." Alaric said sarcastically as he led him towards the bookshelf where he had hidden the stake. He started pulling out books and frowned. "Where is it? The stake is not here."

Damon's eyes darkened. "Who else did you tell Ric?"

"No one I-"he trailed off. "I'm the only one that knew about it."

"Are you trying to tell me that you psychotic alter ego has a stake that can kill an entering line of vampires possibly mine?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you."

-End of Chapter Nineteen-


	20. Heart of Darkness

**Chapter Twenty: Heart of Darkness**

The air in Denver, Colorado where Jeremy was staying at was bone chilling cold, not to mention the awkwardness between Holly and Damon as they both walked towards the batting cages looking for him. Holly was perfectly capable of picking up Jeremy by herself, she wondered why Damon had decided to tag along.

She sighed. Though knowing Damon, it probably didn't even have anything to do with her, it seem like all that Damon had in his mind right now was killing the Originals.

Holly smiled when she finally saw her brother. "There he is."

Damon winced when he saw how bad Jeremy was. "Next time I compel him, remind me to make him good at baseball."

Holly ignored him as she pressed her face against the cage. "Hey, Jeremy!"

Jeremy smiled. "Holly!" he hugged her. "What are you doing here? What's wrong?"

Over the next fifteen minute as they walked away from the batting cages Damon and Holly began telling him what he had missed ever since Damon had compelled him.

"Katherine sired us, Rose sired Katherine, now all we have to do is find out who sired Rose." Damon explained.

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. "So you traveled across the country so that I could talk to some dead vampire? News flash it doesn't work that way, I could talk to Anna and Vicki because I knew them, and I never knew Rose."

Damon scowled. "What good are you if you can't talk to a ghost when I need you too?"

"Give him a break." Holly wrapped her arms protectively around Jeremy's shoulder. "Well, there's no harm in trying."

Jeremy shrugged as he looked over his shoulder. "I guess not, but can we do this later, my friend just got here:"

Both Damon and Holly turned around and Holly paled when she saw Kol holding a bat. She tightened her grip on Jeremy's arm. "Jeremy, get back he's an Original."

"Sorry mate, but we're not buds!" Kol said as he hit Damon across the face with a bat, causing Damon to fall to the floor. Holly used her vampire speed to get behind Kol and snapped his neck. She looked at Jeremy's stun face before she helped Damon up. "Hurry up, let's go."

* * *

"For the record she was the one that wanted to stop at a motel not me," Damon said as he followed Holly and Jeremy towards the second floor of a small unknown motel white dragging Jeremy's suitcases behind.

"We needed a place to locate Rose in peace," Holly looked back. "Unless you want Kol to behead us with his bat."

Damon paused. "Fair point."

Holly opened the small hotel room and started closing the curtains. "We should get this done soon. Do you need anything Jeremy, like candles?"

Jeremy shook his head as he sat at the edge of the bed. "No, but it would help if I had a picture of her."

Damon scoffed. "From what our trip to Disneyland?" he started pacing around. "Come on, Rose you're not really going to make us wait are you? I know you're obsess with me." Nothing. "Fine, I'll tell you something about her . . . she spend her last day in paradise."

Holly frowned. "I was with her on her last day, she was suffering."

"It was the dream that he gave her," Jeremy finally spoke up. "Rose, she's here."

"How are you Rose?" Holly asked feeling weird speaking to someone that wasn't there. "Are you lonely?"

Rose smiled. "No, I'm at peace." She looked at Damon. "And tell Damon that he's dripping with sex."

Jeremy frowned.

Rose laughed. "Fine, tell him I miss him and that I'm rooting for him and Holly. They will work things out."

"She misses both of you."

Rose frowned. "Unfortunately, I don't have much news to offer. No original turned me, I was sired by Mary Porter." Jeremy repeated the message.

"Ugh," Damon wrinkled his nose. "Scary Mary. Any idea where she is, Rose?"

"No, but I can try to find out."

* * *

"So what's up with you and Damon?" Jeremy asked once they were finally alone. "You guys seem . . . tense did you break up or something."

"No, nothing happen." Holly flushed. She really didn't want to tell her little brother that she got dumped.

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. "Really, because even Rose said something."

Holly blushed and refused to look at him. "We broke up . . . it was a stupid misunderstanding. But me and Damon are over."

Before Jeremy could ask anymore, Damon entered the room. "Hey, you two better get some sleep, I'll keep watch, while we wait for Rose."

* * *

Matt had just dropped off Rebekah after school, but her happiness soon diminish when she saw a tall, fair woman waiting for her in the living room. Rebekah pressed her by the throat. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you."

Esther looked at her sadly. "Because I'm dying."

Rebekah pulled back. "How are you dying, Ayana preserved your body with a spell."

Esther sighed. "She did, I was drawing my power for the Bennett witch line and that line got severed when Abby became a vampire."

Rebekah took a deep breath. "Well, if you've come to spend your last moments with your loving daughter, you should have something else planned. Perhaps you should have spent less time plotting my murder."

"Because it shouldn't have been a 1000 years, Rebekah." Esther said exasperated. "No one should live that long."

"But I haven't lived at all!" Rebekah said her voice breaking.

Esther grabbed Rebekah's hands. "I'm sorry, Rebekah." She fell to the floor as Rebekah stared at her.

Klaus came into the room. "What's going on?"

"She's dead."

* * *

Holly couldn't sleep, especially with Damon there. She raised her head slightly and saw that he was sitting down on the couch across from the bed. Jeremy was soundly asleep on the opposing bed. Holly patted down the bed, not sure if he was going to come.

Much to her surprise he laid down next to her. "Why didn't you tell me about what you did for Rose? It was very kind of you."

"Because, I'm not kind Holly." Damon said as he glanced back at the ceiling. "I'm not a nice person remember?" he glanced at her hand and gave it a light squeeze.

"You have proven me wrong a couple of times. You are kind." Holly whispered as she squeezed back. The room felt hot and stuffy, like she couldn't breathe. She needed to get out of here. Holly sat up and headed outside.

She shook her head, she and Damon were broken up. They were over. They needed to stop feeling like this. She needed to stop feeling like this.

She could sense Damon behind her. "Damon, don't, we can't-"

"Why not?" Damon asked as he gently squeezed her shoulder and made her turn around slightly.

Holly raised her lips to his as they kissed. His lips felt so warm and reassuring and familiar as Damon pressed her against the wall and started kissing her neck.

"Holly?!"

Damon and Holly pulled away and stared at a stunned Jeremy. "Jeremy, what-"

"Rose found Mary." Jeremy said flatly. "She lived in Kansas."

"Good." Damon said as he looked back at Holly. "Let's go."

* * *

"This is the address." Jeremy spoke over the silence as Damon stopped the car in front of an old abandoned looing house in Kansas.

"Hopefully, she still lives here." Holly said. "Jeremy, stay in the car."

"Why? So you guys can find more secret spots to make out."

Damon slammed the door. "Don't be a dick and listen to your sister."

Holly opened the door of the house and came across dozens of worn out objects and furniture. "Ugh, does this Mary ever clean? Do you know anything about her?"

"She was creepy. I dated her."

"Figures."

"What I said creepy, not ugly and I dated her before you were even born."

Holly turned the flashlight around and yelped when she saw a staked vampire against the wall.

"Mary." Damon whispered.

"Quite contrary." Holly flashed the flashlight towards the corner and saw Kol smirking and holding a bat. "Poor Mary, too bad that she had to die. She was sort of an Original groupie."

Holly tried to keep her voice from trembling. "And were you her favorite."

Kol shook his head. "I'm not a fool, little girl. I know that you're trying to find out which bloodline you came from and I'm not telling you. So where did we leave off?" he hit Damon across the face with a baseball bat.

"Holly, get out of here!" Damon grunted.

Holly raced to the door, but was trapped by Kol. "You're my brother's favorite which means you're off limits. Please don't test me."

"Don't touch her."

Kol smirked. "Well, I've hit a nerve, relax darling I just want us to be even. You humiliated me, you killed my brother." He hit Damon with the bat several times. "There, now we're even. Farewell, darlings."

Holly immediately helped Damon up. "Are you ok? He didn't do permanent damage did he?"

Damon snapped his arm back into place. "Nope." He touched Holly's cheek. "But enough about Kol, I want to talk about us. What the hell is going on? This trip and us kissing-what does that mean. For you at least?"

Holly gulped as she stared him. Those blue eyes made her soft, but she needed to be honest with him. She didn't want to be hurt anymore. "Damon, what happened at the motel, it was just . . . we were caught up in the moment. It didn't mean anything, I don't want a relationship, at least not right now with everything."

Damon nodded. "I get it, you don't have to explain anything. Come on, let's go back to the car."

* * *

Holly, Jeremy, and Damon were driving back to Mystic Falls when Rose appeared besides him. "Don't tell them I'm here. They had a fight, they are in a complicated situation right now and I know you want to help your sister, protect her from getting hurt but you're young, you don't see what I see. Damon has been with Holly since the beginning, he has helped her grow up, been there when she most needed him, and Holly in return has taught Damon how to love. With Klaus, yes with Klaus I know scary," Rose laughed at Jeremy's shocked face. "Klaus represent a whole new world for her, a world filled with excitement, he helps her question the world and even the people whether they are good or bad. Klaus and Damon will either be the best thing for her or the worst."

* * *

"Go on," Rebekah pushed Alaric in his alter ego towards the cave where he had hidden the white oak stake. "You know that I can't get in."

Alaric scoffed. "Now why would I give you the one thing that is keeping me alive? There's only one stake here, so that means only one original has to die, help me and I'll make sure it's not you."

"You see I don't want only one Original to die," Rebekah said slowly as she stepped over the vampire barrier. "I want all of them to die."

Alaric looked startled. "How?"

Rebekah shrugged. "It was easy to fool, Klaus, but I thought you of all people would understand after all my son did use your body at some point."

"Esther."

-End of Chapter Twenty-


	21. Do Not Go Gentle

**Chapter Twenty One: Do Not Go Gentle**

Esther still in Rebekah's body found Klaus angrily painting a portrait in the living room. "What took you so long?" he asked without bothering to look back at her.

"Alaric didn't want to hand over the stake," she smiled as she pulled up the stake. "Luckily, I'm quite the charmer, so do you want to do the honors or shall I?"

Klaus took the stake from her and threw it into the roaring fireplace. "Pack your bags, we're leaving."

Rebekah paused. No, they couldn't leave. Not tonight.

"But tonight is the decade dance," Rebekah protested. "I'm the head of the committee we have to go."

Klaus scoffed as he returned to his artwork. "I'm not going to any dance."

Rebekah shrugged and said. "Holly will be there." She knew that Klaus had a soft spot for the former witch.

Klaus paused. "She means nothing to me."

"Please," Rebekah begged. "I have big plans for tonight."

Klaus gave an exaggerated sigh. "All right, but we're leaving tomorrow morning."

Rebekah nodded as she exited the house and walked towards Alaric's apartment where he was waiting for her. He looked up. "Did he buy it?"

Rebekah nodded. "Just as I thought. He is unaware that he is heading to his own death." She dipped a dagger in some white oak. "He burned the fake stake and you'll get the real stake when it can no longer be used against me in this body." She opened a coffin and found Esther's body.

Alaric was confused. "So how do you-"

Rebekah guessed his question. "How do I return to my old body? With a little magic and some help from a vampire hunter." She handed the dagger towards Alaric who didn't hesitate to stab her in the heart.

Rebekah let out a low grunt of pain as she fell to the floor. Esther who was in the coffin at that precise moment opened her eyes.

* * *

Holly could see her reflection in the window of one of the cars that was parked outside the school and belonged to one of the many students that were trying to enjoy the decade dance, which thanks to Rebekah the theme was the 1920's. Holly could see her reflection in the glass window.

A simple, short fringe black dress, long pearl necklace, black high heels, and a little black headband with a flower to keep her wavy hair in place. Very dapper. But if you saw a closer look on her expression you could tell that she was unhappy.

In reality all she wanted to do was go back home and curl up on the couch, not be at a stupid dance. She didn't even have a date.

Damon appeared next to her, a frown on his face. "We need to talk, all of us." He pointed towards Elena and Stefan. "Alaric has been lying to us, he's not taking the herbs that Bonnie gave him, and so he's getting sicker."

Holly shook her head. "Then there must be another way a cure, an antidote-"

Damon shook his head, clearly frustrated. "We've tried every possible way. Magic, regular medicine, we can't even compel him-what are we supposed to tell him act like Alaric! The guy we knew is gone."

Stefan took a cautionary pause. "What are you trying to say?"

Damon threw him a venomous look. "I'm trying to say that we should put him out of his misery."

"What?" Elena yelled.

"No way in hell!" Jeremy screamed as he came towards them, he had apparently heard the whole conversation.

"Oh, please it would be what he would have wanted, it's a mercy killing."

"You're out of your mind!" Jeremy shouted as he turned around as Elena followed him.

Damon cocked his head towards Holly who was having mixed feelings. "Come on, Holly you know I'm right."

She shook her head. "Actually, I don't know anything. I'm going to be inside."

* * *

Holly found herself back inside the school gym, where honestly she felt uncomfortable and like she didn't belong. All around her couples were dancing and Holly could see Caroline and Tyler sipping punch and Bonnie and her date Jamie dancing.

"All alone this evening?" Holly turned around and saw that Klaus was wearing a cream colored suit. "What a misfortune, especially since you look so pretty tonight."

Holly cocked an eyebrow. "If that's your way of flirting, I'm not interested."

"Then you don't know what you're missing." He offered his hand. "Care to dance? I promise I won't bite."

Holly shrugged. Honestly, what did she have to lose? And anyway, it way better than standing here looking lonely. "One dance."

Klaus smiled as he took her hand and led her towards the dance floor. "You would have loved the twenties, Holly. The girls were reckless, sexy, fun. They literally danced until they dropped."

"It must be nice," Holly blurted. "Passing decade after decade and see how the world is changing."

"You're a vampire now, you'll experience that soon enough." Klaus smirked. "I'm leaving town tomorrow, so you should be nice to me." Holly snorted. "I would ask you to come, but we both know you're not ready for that. But one day you will, and I will be there ready to show you everything this wonderful world has got to offer you."

"I doubt it, but it's a nice thought." Holly said as she stopped short feeling uncomfortable. "I need to go outside, I need some fresh air."

Much to her dismay, Klaus followed her. "By myself."

Klaus didn't respond with a sarcastic remark, instead he paused when he saw the salt around the school, creating some kind of boarder. "What is this?"

"Salt."

"I know its salt, Holly!"

"God chill!"

Stefan stood behind them and simply said. "Your mother is back."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Holly, Stefan, Damon, Jeremy, Klaus, and Jamie were in Alaric's old classroom waiting for Bonnie to try to figure out a boundary spell. Apparently Esther had also taken Elena.

"What is taking her so long?" Klaus asked frustrated.

"Give her time." Holly scolded.

"For what? For my mother to kill me?" Klaus grabbed Jeremy by the arm and bit into his wrist.

"Klaus!" Holly shouted as she grabbed her brother's shoulder. "What the hell?"

"Am I the only one thinking?" Klaus demanded as he led Jeremy to the desk where there was a world map. He let a few drop of Jeremy's blood drop. "Do a damn locator spell."

* * *

Esther had been talking to Elena when she felt someone's presence outside the small crypt. She had taken Elena there because it was a remote place and Alaric's transformation was almost complete. He would be an Original vampire, however with only one lifespan.

She exited the crypt and Matt and Jeremy popped out of the bushes holding out guns and pointing them at her. "Don't move! Where's Elena!"

"Jeremy!" Elena shouted as she exited the crypt.

"Let her go!"

Esther pursed her lips. "How foolish of you to risk you lives for those that hurt you. Well, that is your mistake." She moved her hands so that Matt and Jeremy were pointing their hands towards each other.

"Matt, let go!" Jeremy shouted.

"I can't!"

"Esther stop!"

Alaric came behind Esther and stabbed her with a knife in the heart. He looked around confused. "Where's my ring? What happened?"

* * *

"Klaus just left with Esther," Alaric told Elena and Jeremy weakly. "He doesn't know about the white oak stake, so that gives us some of an advantage."

"Alaric!" Holly cried as she rushed in, when Esther had died the spell had been broken and she had been allowed to get out. "Are you all right, what did she-"

"No, I'm not all right, Holly in a way," Alaric said. "Esther tried to make me into some kind of weapon. She made me into an Original vampire and made an indestructible white oak stake. The thing is I'm not going to complete the transition."

Holly shook her head. "No, you can't. You have to Alaric, please-"

"So what we're just going to lock you here and let you die?" Jeremy demanded,

"Listen, Jeremy it's the right thing to do, ok?" Alaric winced. "Maybe after everything, I had it coming."

"Alaric this isn't you fault." Elena said firmly.

"Please, guys let's not make it harder than this has to be." Alaric shook his head sadly. "Look Damon's here, he'll make sure everything goes the right away. And let me say taking care of all three of you . . . it's the closest thing to the life I've always wanted.

Holly's throat felt tight and she feared that she might cry at any second. She wrapped her arms around Alaric. "I'm going to miss you . . . thank you for everything."

* * *

"Meredith came by and gave him some sedative so he'll go peacefully," Holly told Damon outside of the crypt, trying to keep her voice from breaking, she could see that this was hard enough on Damon.

"I offered to snap his neck, but he didn't take me up on the offer."

Holly smiled. "That sounds like Alaric . . . you should go with him . . . he needs a friend right now."

"He said he wanted to be left alone." Damon said dryly.

"No one deserve to die alone," Holly squeezed his hand. "Go with your friend, Damon. He needs you."

* * *

Alaric was asleep and Damon guessed he only had a few minutes before he died. He stopped drinking when he heard crunching noises coming from outside. He stood up and saw Bonnie, looking at him blankly. "Bonnie, what the hell are you doing here? Did you sleep walk or something?"

Bonnie raised her hand causing Damon to fall on the floor in pain. She went towards Alaric and grabbed the white oak stake and stabbed her hand and offered the blood to his awaiting mouth. Alaric drank, his eyes flew open and he gripped the white oak stake.

-End of Chapter Twenty-

For those of you that are interested I just started an AU version of Broken Pieces-The Originals featuring witch Holly being pregnant with Klaus' baby, called The Witch and the Hybrid. Thanks for your reviews!


	22. Before Sunset

**Chapter Twenty Two: Before Sunset**

The next morning Holly forced herself to go to the school to help clean up the gym. Caroline was originally supposed to do it, but Holly had offered. She just wanted to get out of the house, she couldn't bear to be there a second later. It was just too depressing to think about it. Alaric was dead. He couldn't be dead, could he?

She opened the gym doors and saw Rebekah who had apparently returned back to her own body angrily cleaning up balloons. She raised an eyebrow in Holly's direction. "And what are you doing here? Where's Caroline?"

"She couldn't make it." She lied.

Rebekah shrugged. "You're late, you were supposed to be here at eight."

"Rebekah it's 8:02," Holly said frustrated.

"Exactly, I manage to come on time to clean up after the dance that I didn't even get to attend." She replied hotly.

Holly detected sadness in her tone and she sighed. Rebekah was right, Holly knew that deep down all Rebekah wanted was to be a normal high school girl and yet she had missed two school dances and one of them had been Holly's fault. "I'm sorry about your mom, I know she wasn't the nicest person, but still I'm sorry."

Rebekah nodded. "I'm sorry about your teacher, he seemed like a really nice guy."

Holly bit her lip. "He was."

"I'm going to go clean up the hallway." Rebekah exited the gym and was halfway through when she ran into Alaric. She felt a chill go down her spine. "You're supposed to be dead."

"I am." Alaric pinned Rebekah against the locker, he held up the white oak stake and was about to stab it against Rebekah's heart when Holly pulled him away from her. "Rebekah, run." She shouted.

Holly saw a flash go next to her, Holly turned around and before she could even blink, Alaric came behind her and snapped her neck.

* * *

Elena was upstairs trying to figure out which room to paint first-Aunt Jenna's or her dead parents. Her cell phone rang and she frowned when she saw caller ID-Alaric. "However this is, is not funny." She said into the receiver.

"Well, who else would it be?"

"Ric?"

Alaric turned towards Holly who he had forced into a chair. Two wooden pencils were jabbed in her hands to prevent her from moving. A cloth dosed with vervain was wrapped around her mouth so that there were burnt marks and there were tears falling down her face. Perfect. "Listen closely I'm at the school and I have your sister and if you want to keep her alive, I suggest you come here right away. If you tell anyone where you're going, I will kill her."

* * *

Holly raised her head, it took every ounce of will power not to scream in pain. She tried to tell herself that it wasn't Alaric, that it was his evil alter ego, Alaric would never do this. She heard the door creak open as Elena came into the room.

Alaric smirked. "Right on time."

"Holly." Elena whispered as she looked at her injured sister. "Let her go Alaric."

"Free her yourself."

Alaric and Elena exchanged looks as Elena walked towards Holly. Elena gently stroke her sister's hair. "It's going to be ok, Holly." She pulled out the pencil and Holly neatly moaned in relief. But the painless experience lasted only a few seconds because Alaric jabbed the pencil again in her hands.

"You said that you would let her go!" she said.

"How many times do I have to tell you Elena?" Alaric shouted. "Stop trusting vampires."

"Alaric, please," Holly whispered as Alaric took the vervain rag from her mouth. "Please don't do this, this is not you."

"This is me, Holly." Alaric said as he placed the vervain rag in vervain again and placed it again over her mouth. Holly's skin stated to burn. "The real me."

"Why are you doing this?" Elena demanded.

"So it will be easier to put her out of her misery, she may be your sister Elena, but she is still a vampire!" he handed her the stake. "Isn't this what you wanted Elena, for me to teach you how to kill vampires? Well, she's a vampire kill her!"

Elena shook her head. "This isn't what I want! Holly is my sister, I would never kill her!"

"She's not your sister, she's a murderer!" Alaric pointed the stake towards Holly who was flushing from embarrassment. "She told me she's killed before and she liked it! Listen, Elena your parents led the council, do you think they would be proud to have a vampire daughter? No, let's be realistic, they would want you to put Holly out of her misery!"

"You don't know anything about them!"

"Why am I wrong? Do you think that they would be proud of either of you?" Elena narrowed her eyes towards the beaker that was filled with vervain. She managed to grab it and dump the vervain on Alaric's head. Alaric screamed as Elena pulled the pencils out of Holly.

"Run! Get help!"

Holly nodded as she vamp flash out of the classroom, relief spread through her and then she was grabbed. Panic entered through her body until she realized that it was Klaus. He had his hand around her mouth to keep her from screaming. "Shh, it's ok, it's me."

"Klaus," Holly gasped. "He has Elena, he's going to kill her-"

"No, he won't, we'll save Elena." Klaus said firmly. "You go straight home and stay inside. Do you understand me?"

Holly nodded, grateful for Klaus' presence. "Thank you, Klaus."

* * *

"So Esther in a way joined Elena's lifespan to Alaric so if Elena dies, Alaric does too?" Holly glanced around the kitchen where Matt and Caroline were. They were still waiting for everyone else.

"That's what Stefan said," Caroline said showing her the text. "Pretty smart if you ask me, are you sure that you don't want vodka?"

"Pretty sure."

"How did you even get away?" Matt asked.

Holly gulped. "Elena managed to save me and I left and I ran into Klaus. . .he told me that he was going to take care of everything. That he was going to save Elena.

Matt and Caroline exchanged looks. "And you believe that psycho?"

Holly shrugged slightly annoyed. "Yes, I believe him." The door opened and Tyler came in, smiling. "What are you so happy about? Did you get rid of Alaric?"

Tyler said. "No, but we got rid of Klaus," Tyler explained. "We found Klaus draining Elena of blood and we used that opportunity to grab him. Bonnie performed the desiccation spell Abby did on Mikael so that Klaus could be dead in a way, but we wouldn't be."

Holly gaped as Caroline and Tyler hugged and kissed. Klaus was dead, he was out of their lives. She knew that she should be happy, but why was she feeling sad?

* * *

"What are you guys doing here?" Elena smiled in surprise when she entered the kitchen and saw Caroline, Tyler, Bonnie, Matt, Jeremy, and Holly in the kitchen surrounded by bottles of whisky and vodka.

"Welcome to our victory party!" Caroline squealed.

"What victory? We lost Alaric is still out there." Elena said, she noticed that Holly was the only one of the group who looked unhappy lost in her thoughts.

"We know, but we've been trying to get rid of Klaus for forever and Caroline convinced us to enjoy it for one night." Bonnie explained as Tyler and Matt started passing out drinks. "So we're going to toast to Klaus' death."

"Um, no thanks I don't want any." Holly said refusing Matt's drink.

"Come on, Holly." Caroline groaned. "Celebrate with us."

"No, Caroline I'm not going to celebrate." Holly said as she stood up. "Yes, I get it Klaus has done some pretty horrible things, but so have all of us and I'm not going to celebrate someone's death not even his. So enjoy your party, but leave me out of it."

* * *

"Hey, are you ok?" Elena asked Holly a few minutes later. Holly was in the middle of their parent's room looking at the paint job. "You seemed upset? Why can't you be happy about Klaus death, he ruined all of our lives Holly."

"I know that, Elena." Holly said sharply. "And I know that he tried to drain you of blood and I wished he hadn't done that believe me, but how can I celebrate his death when I've done the same things he's done. I've killed humans, I turned another person into a vampire to save Jenna and while I may have had good reasons that's still no excuse. So no, I'm not going to be happy that he's dead, because honestly that won't change things."

Elena watched as Holly left, she grabbed a paintbrush and was just finishing painting the wall when she felt a sharp pain in her head. Elena tumbled to the floor unconscious, blood pouring from her nose.

-End of Chapter Twenty Two-


	23. The Departed

**Chapter Twenty Three: The Departed**

_Flashback:_

"_Hey, look at the cheerleader," Jenna smirked over her cup of coffee as Holly came down self-conscience in her red and black cheerleading uniform tugging on her skirt. "You look good, kiddo."_

"_Ugh!" Holly complained. "I will never get used to how short this thing is!"_

"_You have shorts, under Holly." Elena gave her a playful shove as she followed her down the stairs. "It's not like anyone is going to see your underwear."_

"_They better not." Holly playfully shoved Elena back._

"_That's enough girls," Miranda said as she came into the room and gave both Holly and Elena a kiss on the cheek. "It's time to get ready for school."_

* * *

"She's going to be fine," Meredith told Holly and Jeremy who were standing in front of her looking concern. They had driven Elena to the hospital once they had found her unconscious. "She got a little banged up today, but she'll be fine."

"Are sure?" Holly said. "Because there was blood-"

"She's ok," Meredith interrupted her. "Honestly, she's been though a lot, she just needs rest, but if Alaric is indeed on the loose, the hospital might not be the best place for her."

Jeremy nodded. "All right, we'll take her home."

Half an hour later Holly and Jeremy helped Elena inside the house, even though Meredith said that she was fine, Holly couldn't help but see that she was a little pale. "Jeremy, can you go to the Grill and get some food for Elena?" she asked. "How about soup."

Elena gave her a wobbly smile. "Honestly, I'm fine Holly. I'm just tired and soup is fine."

"Got it," Jeremy said as he grabbed the car keys. "I'll be right back."

Holly led her twin to the couch and handed her a blanket. "Do you need anything else?"

Elena shook her head. "I'm fine, Holly." She bit her lip. "I know things have been crazy and I know we haven't had a lot of time to talk, but I'm sorry. Klaus was kind to you, so you shouldn't have to feel the hatred that everyone else feels. I'm sorry if I made you feel that way."

Holly nodded feeling a lump in her throat. "Thank you for apologizing, but honestly Klaus is gone. It doesn't matter now."

* * *

_Flashback:_

"_Caroline Forbes told me that my ponytail lacked drama." Elena told her twin as she walked across campus with her boyfriend, Matt Donovan._

"_Well, she told me that my skirt was too tight." Holly rolled her eyes, she had never liked the pretentious Caroline. "I think she may have secretly called me fat."_

"_Well, I think you're both gorgeous." Matt kissed Elena. "I go to go, I love you."_

_Holly watched at Matt left before she turned to Elena. "You didn't say I love you back."_

"_What?"_

_Holly sighed. "You know what, I can read you Elena. You don't feel the same way about him anymore, you don't love him. You can't string him along, Elena. It's not fair to either of you. Let him go."_

* * *

Elena's eyes fluttered opened as she looked around and saw herself staring into the blue eyes of Matt Donovan. She gave him a warm smile. "Hey, what are you doing here, where's Holly?"

"Tyler and Caroline got a call from their moms, Jeremy isn't back yet, and Holly is trying to reach Damon and Stefan. What are you dreaming about?"

Elena struggled to sit up. "Sophomore year."

"Seems like forever ago."

The door swung opened and Stefan came into the room. He relaxed when he saw Elena and he gave her a hug. "Hey."

"Hey," Elena whispered.

"There you are." Holly said as she came down the stairs holding her cell phone. "I've been trying to reach you. Where's Damon?"

"We heard about Elena's accident," Stefan said. "He offered to go hide Klaus' body while I stayed with Elena."

Holly looked mildly disappointed at this. "Oh."

Stefan read her thoughts. "Don't worry he'll be back soon."

Holly nodded as the doorbell rang. "I'll get it." She hurried to open the door and she stopped short when she saw the suit wearing original. "Elijah."

Elijah gave a curt nod. "Hello again."

* * *

Holly, Elena, Matt, Stefan, and Elijah were sitting in the kitchen table trying to formulate a plan to get rid of Alaric. "All we need to do is take the stake away from him, once he is disarmed my family will scattered through the ends of the earth and Alaric will follow."

Stefan raised an eyebrow. "And you'll just run?"

Elijah shrugged. "We've done it before we ran away from my father for a 1000 years what's another half century so that Elena lives the rest of her natural life in peace?"

Elena sighed. "We finally stopped him Elijah, after everything I can't just let you bring him back."

"I give you my word Elena that I will not revive Klaus during your lifetime nor during your children's lifetime. Maybe that will finally teach him some manners."

Holly sighed as she looked at her sister. "It may be the only way that we finally get rid of Klaus."

Elijah stared at her. "The choice is up you Elena."

"No, no, did I mention no!" Damon's annoyed voice came through the phone on the table. "Did the concussion give you brain damage? Kol and Rebekah will kill you the first change they get!"

"Kol and Rebekah have honored the terms." Elijah said coldly. "If you return Klaus' body, Elena will come to no harm."

"Why do you want Klaus' body?" Elena asked.

"He's my brother, we remain together."

Elena sighed. "We have a deal."

Holly sighed, "But first we need to lure Alaric out of Mystic Falls, but how can we contact him-"

"I'll do it," Jeremy said as he came into the room holding his cell phone. "I'll call him."

"All right," Elijah said. "Call him."

Jeremy dialed the number and Alaric responded. "Hey, I know where Klaus' body is."

"Good," Alaric's lips pulled into a smile. "Tell me."

"Damon is going to bury him in the woods off Route 12. I'll text you with the specifics."

Alaric smirked. "You're doing the right thing for your sister, Jeremy."

Jeremy nodded as he hung up, he looked at the group. "He bought it."

"Right, we should get going," Elijah stood up as Matt refilled Elena's tea. "Holly, Stefan, and Jeremy you will come with me and Mr. Donovan can stay with Elena."

* * *

Elena's eyes fluttered opened as she looked around confused. The last thing she remembered was that she had been drinking tea after everyone else had left and she had started feeling sleepy. She was in a truck, Matt's truck.

She looked over her shoulder and said. "What's going on? The tea, you drugged me!"

Matt gripped his hands on the wheel. "It was the only way that I was going to get you out of town, Elena. It's was the only way that you were going to survive this."

* * *

Holly knew that something was wrong by the way that Stefan was reacting, his face had gone pale and his eyes were wide. She put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Klaus," he responded. "Klaus is dead. Damon called, Alaric killed him with the stake. We're doomed, Holly."

Holly shook her head, trembling. "No, it's not possible . . . maybe we're not a part of Klaus' bloodline, maybe-"

"It's no use, Holly."

Holly's cell phone rang. She had a text from Caroline. "I just got a text from Caroline, Tyler is dead."

* * *

"Please, please answer," Holly whispered to herself as she pressed her phone to her ear. Damon was miles away, he wouldn't come back on time, but she needed to say goodbye. "Please."

"Holly." He finally answered, he sounded tired. "Glad to hear you're not dead yet."

"You too." Holly bit her lip. "How can you joke at a time like this?"

Damon gave her a wry smile. "Any symptoms?"

Holly gulped. "Not yet, but Tyler is dead . . . where are you? I'll come-"

"No," Damon said as he looked at Alaric who was passed out. "Alaric is going to wake up anytime soon and you won't make it time."

Holly gulped. Her throat felt tight. "Damon, I-"she wanted to say, I love you, but the words never left her mouth.

"I know." Damon finish with a gulp. He wished that he could be there right now, he wished that he could touch her and comfort her. He saw that Alaric was stirring and that he was waking up. "I need to go, I-take care of yourself Holly."

She bit her lip, trying to keep from crying. "You too, Damon."

* * *

Bonnie knew that what she was doing wasn't the right thing and she knew that she would regret it for the rest of her life. She looked over her shoulder. "I know you're there." She said to the person lurking in the Lockwood cellar.

Bonnie had managed to put Klaus' spirit into Tyler's body so that Klaus would remain alive until they figured out what to do with Alaric. "You did that spell brilliantly, I didn't know you had it in you."

"I did it to save my friends and my mother Klaus, not you."

"The spirits won't be happy with you."

Bonnie lifted her chin. "The spirits don't get to tell me what to do anymore. I'm done getting pushed around by all of you. I did it because I wanted too."

* * *

"I need to call Stefan and Holly," Elena said to Matt. They were on their way back to Mystic Falls, they needed to say goodbye. "My cell is dying."

Matt handed her his phone. "Use mine."

"Thanks," they were just crossing Wickery Bridge and Elena saw a figure in the middle of the bridge. Rebekah. "Matt, look out!" she shouted. Matt tried to turn away, but Elena heard a crash as she found herself falling into the water.

* * *

_Flashback:_

_Elena was walking into the woods, her phone in hand as she got away further from the party. "Yeah, I know Bonnie, you, Holly, and my mom are all right. I just can't tell him tonight, bye." She hung up and Damon took a step back._

"_Katherine."_

"_No, um," Elena looked over her shoulder. "Elena."_

"_Oh, I'm sorry." Damon looked confused. "It's just you remind me of someone."_

* * *

Holly was sitting in a chair in the Mystic Falls hospital feeling both numb and broken. She was trying to figure things out, trying to put the pieces of what everyone else had told her in the past hour. Alaric was dead. Klaus was dead. They weren't. Rebekah had cause Matt's truck to go over the bridge. Stefan saved Matt, not Elena. Elena was dead. Meredith had given her vampire blood earlier that day. Elena was a vampire.

The double doors opened and Holly raised her head and saw Damon, she was so relief that she nearly started choking in her own tears. "You're alive!" she said hugging him tightly by the waist. "Oh, my god you really are alive aren't you?"

Damon gave her a crooked smile. "Yeah, I'm alive." He wiped away a stray tear from her face. "Why are you crying? You're not dying are you?"

"No." Holly bit her lip. "Elena was in an accident."

Meanwhile, in the room next to her Stefan was sorrowfully waiting for Elena to wake up. Her body was cold and stiff. Elena's eyes suddenly opened as she took a deep breath.

-End of Chapter Twenty Three-


	24. Growing Pains

**Chapter Twenty Four: Growing Pains**

Elena eyes fluttered opened as she looked around feeling panicky as she looked around the room and noticed that in fact they were in her room, Holly and Stefan were staring at her with a worried expression while Damon stared on with obvious frustration.

"What happened?" she croaked.

"You were in accident," Stefan said gently.

"Matt-"Elena started, panic in her voice.

Holly cleared her throat. "Matt is fine, Elena don't worry, Stefan managed to save him, but there's something you don't know. When Jeremy and I took you to the hospital, your injuries were very severed and Meredith didn't tell us that she gave you vampire blood-"

"-And when Rebekah ran your truck off the road you had vampire blood in your system, Elena." Damon finished for her.

"Oh, my god am I dead?" Elena practically screamed as she shook her head in protest. "No, I can't be dead, I can't be a vampire!"

"Maybe you don't have to be," Stefan said gently. "Bonnie says that she's stronger than ever, maybe she can figure out a spell."

Holly shook her head, she couldn't believe that Stefan was giving her twin false hope. "Stefan, we all know that there's no way out of this she has to feed and complete the transition."

"Holly is right, there is no door number three," Damon said coldly.

Elena ignored him as she looked with pleading eyes at Stefan. "No, I can't be a vampire if Bonnie knows something then we have to try!"

Damon pulled back and said sarcastically. "Your choice Elena like always."

* * *

"One vodka tonic," Holly said as she compelled the waiter at the Grill to give her, her drink even though she was permanently underage. Holly wasn't normally a sad drunk, but she needed something to numb out her annoyance.

She knew that Elena was going through a tough time, that she should be more sympathetic, but honestly all she could feel was annoyance. Everyone was running around trying to find a cure to make her human, meanwhile when she had been turned by Katherine the rule had basically been suck it up, so sue her for feeling bitter.

"Thanks." She nodded her thanks as she took a sip. The drink felt bitter and it stung her throat. Vervain. She felt someone jab a needle in her throat as she passed out. Pester Young turned towards the other council members.

"Get her in the truck with the Original." Pastor Young barked.

* * *

Klaus still in Tyler's body was trapped in the Lockwood cellar until Bonnie figure out a way to keep Elena human. He cursed under his breath when his phone kept buzzing. "Hi, mom."

"Tyler, thank God," Carol said. "Are you ok?"

"Fine, what's going on?"

"Pastor Young arrested me this morning," Carol said as she served herself a drink. "The council grilled me on your whereabouts, the less I know the better. I was afraid that you were with Holly."

Klaus stiffen. "What happened with Holly?"

"She was ambushed in the Grill. They took her."

Klaus growled. "Who took her?"

"The council."

* * *

Holly woke up and immediately felt the stinginess on her wrists, she looked around and saw that she was tied down against the walls of a van and that Rebekah was next to her.

"Don't bother," Rebekah said. "Vervain ropes."

Holly grunted, trying not to snap at Rebekah for killing her sister. "Looks like Alaric outed us to the council before he died."

Rebekah scoffed. "The council, what exactly do they think that they can do to me?" her speech was interrupting by a sudden crash as everything went spinning and both girls landed on their back. "What the hell?"

The van's doors were open as Klaus came in and started ripping the vervain ropes off Holly. He smirked at her. "I'm harder to kill than you think."

"Tyler!" she gasped. "You're alive, how are you alive?"

"No time to explain, come on let's go." He said as he helped her out of the van.

Holly looked back at Rebekah. "What about her?"

"Oh, Rebekah can take care of herself."

Klaus smirked at her once Holly was out of earshot, "Keep them busy little sister," Rebekah's eyes widened. "No, it's not possible." Klaus couldn't be alive, could he?

* * *

"We must be close," Holly said, she and Klaus were walking around the woods, trying to get as far away from the council members as possible. "I think I recognize this place."

She turned around to make sure that Klaus was still listening to her, but Klaus pressed her against the tree and much to her surprise started kissing her. Holly pushed him away. "Tyler, what the hell! Might I remind you that you have a girlfriend?"

Klaus grinned at her. "Feisty I like it, honestly I've been wanting to do that since I first meet you love."

Holly squinted. "Love?" Klaus. "Klaus, what the hell did you do to Tyler?"

Klaus grinned. "That's another thing I like about you other than the fact that you're a glorious kisser, you're as quick as a whip."

"You're disgusting."

Klaus frowned. "Listen, I didn't have to risk exposure to come save you."

"I think I already paid my dues when you forcibly kissed me in another person's body!" Holly said angrily. "Put Tyler back in his own body!"

"Gladly," Klaus smirked. "And then maybe I can tempt you in the offer of hot hybrid sex."

"You wish."

* * *

"She says she's not strong enough," Jeremy told Klaus and Holly once they returned to Bonnie so that Klaus could return to his own body.

Klaus scowled. "You were strong enough to put me in, surely you're strong enough to take me out."

"I upset the spirits, by trying to save Elena," Bonnie explained. "I can't do that magic again."

Holly turned to Klaus. "Be patient, Klaus, all we have to do is wait a few more days so that Bonnie can do it with traditional magic-what are you doing?"

Klaus had position his claws over Tyler's heart and was slowly ripping into his chest. "Ripping out Tyler's heart and I'll jump into someone else, maybe your little brother."

"He's bluffing," Jeremy said uncertainly. "He needs a witch to do that."

Klaus raised an eyebrow. "And what makes you think I don't have one, or dozens?" he digged deeper. "So choose Bonnie you or Tyler."

"Stop it, Klaus!" Holly shouted. "You're killing him."

"Fine!" Bonnie shouted. "I'll do it, just stop." She bended down and lit some candles and began chanting.

"She shouldn't be doing this, "Jeremy murmured to Holly. "It's black magic."

"Black magic, like evil magic?" Holly question.

Jeremy nodded.

Tyler's eyes opened and Holly looked at him. "Tyler?"

Tyler smiled. "I'm back."

* * *

"How dare you save Holly over me?" Rebekah shouted as she stomped over to Klaus who was in the living room putting away the last of Elena's blood supply.

"Hello brother, thought you were dead, so pleased that you're not." Klaus said sarcastically. "Now Rebekah stopped your pouting, we need to find more werewolves."

Rebekah looked both hurt and disgusted. "So that you can create your hybrid family? You don't know anything about family."

"I know how easily they can be silence with a dagger."

Rebekah angrily grabbed the blood bags and threw them against them wall, she held the last two in her hands. "I mourned you! My heart broke thinking I might not ever see you again. It's always been me, not Kol, not Elijah, not Finn me! I loved you through everything and you don't even care!"

"Drop them!" Klaus shouted.

"You want your family?" Rebekah asked squeezing the blood from the bags. "Here's your family."

Klaus gripped Rebekah by the throat. "You're right Rebekah I don't care so from this moment on, you're not my family, you're not my sister, you're nothing!" he snapped Rebekah's neck and left her on the floor.

* * *

"Nice daylight ring," Holly joked awkwardly as Elena came inside the house. "So I guess you completed the transition."

Elena nodded as she twirled with the ring. "Bonnie, made it for me and as for the transition, it was either become a vampire or die."

Holly squeezed her shoulder. "It will be ok, Elena you'll get through it. I did."

Elena gulped. "I doubt it, Holly."

* * *

Pastor Young turned towards the rest of the council that were back at his house and cleared his throat. "Folks as you must know by now the vampires have escaped, but fear not I have been chosen to lead you in a movement."

"What are you talking about?" one of the members asked.

"Hear me love ones, soon you will be able to pass through the gates." He pulled out a lighter. "And we'll reunite in eternity. Friends were are the beginning."

He dropped the lighter and the kitchen started burning and screams erupted into the air.

-End of Chapter Twenty Four


	25. Memorial

**Chapter Twenty Five: Memorial**

"Did you set the explosion that killed the town council?" Elena demanded once she found Damon at The Grill. She was trying hard to ignore her hunger.

Damon put down his glass of whisky impatiently. "Why does everyone keep asking me that? No I didn't touch them anything else?"

Elena hesitated before she nodded. "Yes, there's something wrong I can't keep any of the animal blood down, I don't want Holly to worry. I think I need your help."

Damon sighed as she turned around towards the customers. "Of course you do, have your pick Asian fusion, Mexican, or American?"

Elena shook her head. "No, no human blood, Stefan is right I have to get through this without hurting anyone."

Damon finished his drink and grabbed Elena wrist before dragging her to the bathroom. "What are you doing?"

"Giving you what you need, you're new vampire, you need blood from the vein," he bit into his wrist and offered it to her. "Drink, maybe this will do the trick, just don't tell Holly or Stefan."

"Why not?"

"Because blood sharing is kind of personal," Damon said. "And I don't need them to get all upset about it."

"What do you mean it's personal?"

Damon rolled his eyes. "Just drink." Without a second thought, Elena bit into his wrist, savoring the blood.

* * *

Elena couldn't believe what had happened in just a few short hours. She had been volunteering at the church for the memorial and when she had said hello to her old friend, April Young she had begun remembering the usual hunger.

The problem was that as soon as she had gone into the bathroom, she had started vomiting blood everywhere and the fact that the vampire hunter that had attacked Tyler earlier was at the church had not made her feel better.

Damon had brought her a change of clothes, but she was still feeling a bit hangover.

"Did you bring the blood bag?" Elena demanded as she walked away from the church.

"Would you mind saying that a little louder?" he handed her a blood bag. "Here."

Elena snatched it away from him and started drinking, immediately she stated coughing it up. "What's wrong with me?" she whimpered. "I'm dying aren't I?"

"I don't know maybe it's your doppelganger blood that's rejecting the transition," Damon paused. "You need to drink from the vein here-"he was just about to offer his wrist when he saw Holly approaching them. "Twin's coming, I'll handle her. Get back to the church."

"What's going on? Is everything ok?" Holly asked as she watched Elena's retreating form going to the church. "What's going on with Elena, tell me Damon, now!"

"She's can't keep the blood down Holly, animal, blood bag she throws it back up," Damon said.

Holly shook her head. "That's impossible, why wouldn't she-"

"I don't know," Damon admitted. "She can't even keep my blood down, Opps did I say that out loud?"

Holly paused. Damon was feeding her his blood, why it wasn't like Elena could survive on his blood? "Why are you giving her your blood, Damon?"

"Come on Holly, let's not make this a bigger deal that it had to be."

"Well it is a big deal to me." Holly snapped as she started walking towards the church.

* * *

Holly and the rest of the town were at the church trying to listen to Carol nervously give a speech. She could feel the tension around everyone and then she smelled it. Blood. She saw everyone around her stiffen and Elena started trembling.

"Don't look back it's a trap," Damon murmured, though it was hard ignoring the dripping sound of blood.

"The blood . . . Stefan," Elena whimpered. "It's too much."

"Elena," Holly whispered. "Try to contain it, the service is almost over-"

"Holly," Elena hissed. "I'm starving."

"Wait, Elena feed from me." Matt murmured. "Everyone will think that you're upset, feed from me."

Elena buried her neck against Matt's neck and sunk her fangs inside his neck.

* * *

"It's April," Elena said after she removed herself from Matt. "It has to be, we need to save her-"

"Elena," Stefan said as he grabbed her hand. "Conner is right behind us, we can't risk it-"

Tyler suddenly stood up and headed towards the podium. "Excuse me, I'd like to say a few things about Pastor Young. He was the one that taught me the importance of community, family-"

Tyler didn't get to finish because at that point Conner shot him and he fell to the ground. Everyone started exiting the church as Holly, Caroline, and Stefan rushed towards the stage.

"I'm going to kill that bastard." Tyler grunted.

"I think Damon is ahead of you." Stefan said.

"Go," Holly said. "We'll take care of this."

"What about April and Elena?"

"I'll take care of it," Caroline looked over her shoulder.

"I'll stay with Tyler," Holly said as she turned her gaze towards the ceiling filled with blood. "You go help April."

* * *

"Are you still mad?" Damon asked as Holly got out of the opposing car next to her as they both started walking towards the high school later that evening. Conner had gotten free and April was safe. Everyone else was already there and Damon was wondering why Stefan had called them. "It's no big deal, Holly. You don't want your sister to starve do you?"

"Of course not." She snapped. "I just don't think feeding her, your blood is the best method and I'm sure Stefan didn't appreciate it either." Without another look back she headed towards the picnic tables. "What are we doing?"

"We are going to finish the memorial we didn't get to have earlier," Stefan said as he began handing down lanterns. "We've all lost so much that we think we're immune to it, we don't let ourselves grieve."

Damon raised an eyebrow. "So you're lighting lanterns?" he scowled. "What we need to do is figure out who this hunter is and what he knows about the death of the council, we have more important things to worry about than-"

"Damon," Holly interrupted him. "The hunter can wait, we deserve a night of peace."

Stefan lit up a lantern. "This is for Lexi, Uncle Zach, and Alaric." He landed the lighter to Matt.

"This is for Vicki."

"This is for my dad and Tyler's." Caroline handed the lighter to Jeremy.

"This is for Vicki, for our parents, for Anna, and Alaric." Jeremy motioned the lighter to Damon, but he refuse to grab it.

Damon shook his head as he started to walk away. "No way, I'm not doing that."

Holly grabbed the lighter from Jeremy. "This is for our parents, for Alaric, for Vicki, for all the people that I've killed or harmed." She handed the lighter to Elena, she noticed that Elena was refusing to meet her eyes.

Elena cleared her throat. "This is for my parents, for everyone that this town has lost, for everyone that you have lost, and me I guess." She let go off the lantern and everyone stood back and watched as the sky was filled with bright lathers.

-End of Chapter Twenty Five-

Thanks for your reviews!


	26. The Rager

**Chapter Twenty Six: The Rager**

Holly slipped into her usual seat next to Elena, things between the sisters had been awkward for the past few days. She smiled. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Good." Elena looked at the board and sighed.

Stefan caught on. "This is the first time that we've been in Alaric's classroom."

Elena frowned. "First period and I'm ready to bawl my eyes out." She narrowed her eyes angrily as she watched Rebekah enter the room and was starting to hand out flyers. "And just like that I'm no longer feeling sentimental."

"So, I'm throwing an anti-curfew party starting from fifth period to whenever," she placed a flyer on Elena's desk. "You're welcome to join Elena if you want to bury the hatchet."

"It's a pretty big hatchet," Elena said coldly as she studied the flyer. "New house, huh did your brother finally kick you out?"

"He didn't kick me out, I left."

"So you left the only person on earth who actually likes you?" Elena shot back.

Rebekah stiffened. "Well, your boyfriend liked me once, actually a lot more than once."

"Rebekah," Holly spoke up. "Can you go bother someone else?"

"Oh, come on Holly I actually like you, I would hate for us to become enemies," she smirked. "Besides history is my favorite subject, by the way where is Mr. Saltzman? Oh, yes I killed him."

Elena angrily threw a pencil towards Rebekah, which Rebekah caught with ease and threw it back at her, causing Elena's sweater to be filled with blood. Elena angrily stood up and went outside with Stefan closed at her heels.

Holly crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow at Rebekah. "Was that really necessary?"

"Oh come on Holly, darling don't pout it will leave wrinkles," Rebekah told her. "Besides you may be fooling everyone else, but you're not fooling me."

"Excuse me?"

"I heard about the blood sharing between Elena and your little ex-boyfriend," Rebekah sighed. "And let's face it, Elena has always been a pain in the ass, no one would blame you if you would have wanted her dead."

Holly narrowed her eyes. "I love my sister, Rebekah and honestly whatever problems we have is none of your business." Her cell phone rang as she went outside the hallway. She picked it up, it was a text message from Damon.

**Damon:** Meet me in the woods, Conner's trailer, and hurry.

* * *

"You could have at least answered your phone you know," Holly huffed as she opened the trailer and took a step back. Damon was standing in the middle of the trailer, he had an arrow in his chest and the arrow seem to be connecting to a smaller machine. "Please tell me that's not an explosive."

"Fine, it's not." Damon groaned. "It's a kitten, it's an adorable, exploding kitten."

"Why didn't you call Stefan? I don't know anything about this!"

"Because as you predicted, Stefan is pissed at me for blood sharing with his girlfriend and there's no time to learn like the present." Damon pointed towards the knife on the desk. "Use that and cut the tip of the arrow through my back very carefully."

While Holly was trying to cut the arrow, Damon picked up the letter from Pastor Young. "How well did you know the pastor?"

Holly shrugged. "Not that well, he used to give Elena and me candy when we were kids, nice guy though."

"Nice crazy guy," Damon scoffed. "Read."

Holly frowned. "What does he mean that a greater evil is coming? As our lives don't suck enough." She managed to cut the last part of the arrow. "There, you're all good."

Damon turned to her. "I know you're still pissed at me so . . . thank you."

"Well I'm over it," she put her hands on her hips. "So what's next?" she looked at Damon's confused face. "Oh, please I know you better than that, next you're going for the revenge."

* * *

"That's her," Jeremy told Conner as he pointed to Meredith Fell who was talking to patients at the hospital.

Conner nodded. "Stay here." He went towards an empty room and ran into Damon. "Isn't a hospital a bad place for a germaphobe?"

"I'm sorry?" Damon smirked. "Did I say germaphobe, I meant vampire."

Holly pressed Conner against the wall, holding him tight. "We haven't meet, I'm Holly, the sister of the teenager boy that you just force to accompany you."

Conner was about to jab a dagger in her leg, but Klaus kicked it down. "Hello mate," he looked at both Damon and Holly. "Well, isn't this awkward?"

* * *

Conner was attempting to pull off the arrow that Klaus had jabbed to the side of his chest to keep him in place.

"Don't bother," Holly said. "You're not going anywhere."

"You three are going to kill me." Connor hissed.

Klaus smiled. "Now, let's not get hasty, I feel like we're just getting to know each other."

"I'm not telling you anything," Conner grunted. "There's going to soon be someone else to take my place."

Damon lowered himself to face him. "That's what I like to hear, vague threats, prophecies, disappearing tattoos."

"What do you mean taboos?" Klaus asked puzzled.

"Don't bother you can't see the damn thing." Damon said as he stood up and saw Holly inspecting one of the stakes. "What are you doing? The stake is not going to talk."

"I know that." Holly rolled her eyes. "There's just this weird symbol-"

Klaus took the stake from her. "Let me see that, love." He paused. "You're one of the five."

"The what?" both Damon and Holly echoed.

"I'm faster than you average hunter," Conner told them as he grabbed a small exploding grenade and tossed it in the air. Holly felt as Damon grabbed her wrist as they both fell tumbling down to safety.

* * *

Conner opened his eyes and he immediately saw that he was back in his trailer, he sat up and saw that Klaus was staring at him. "You saved me."

"Congratulations, you just became more worth to me alive than dead."

Conner looked down. "What did you mean when you said that I was one of the five?"

"You don't know your own history?" Klaus questioned. "Let's just say I just made you the most well protected vampire hunter in town."

-End of Chapter Twenty Six-


	27. The Five

**Chapter Twenty Seven: The Five**

Klaus inspected Conner who was chained up in one of his rooms when he felt two presence behind him. He turned around and saw Holly and Stefan looking at him. "Well, what an unwelcome surprise, no offense love."

"I didn't come here to flirt, Klaus I came here to get answers." Holly said. Truthfully, however she was grateful for the distraction Damon had taken Elena to Whitmore College and Holly didn't need to be stuck at home wondering how they had become such fast friends. "Did you find out something?"

"Not enough," Klaus was obviously displeased. "He's mum about the council fire and he's not telling anything about this greater evil we're supposed to be shivering over. Why are you snooping?" he asked Stefan.

"Well, I can't say it in front of him," said Stefan. "As you may have realized by now our friend here can't be compelled."

Klaus turned to Conner. "You're full of mysteries aren't you, come along."

Holly and Stefan followed Klaus to the living room. Holly paused. "Come on, Klaus I don't have time for games, what do you know about the five?"

Klaus smirked at her. "So many questions."

"We'll it's a good thing neither of us have any plans for today," Stefan responded flatly.

Klaus stared at him. "Fine, you might actually be useful to get my sister to cooperate. The hunters were a group of highly skilled vampire hunters, we crossed paths with them in the 12th century, Italy."

Stefan frowned. "So these hunters have been around for 900 years."

Klaus sat down the couch. "Apparently, though our friend here is the first that I've seen in the last 900 years. Rebekah was madly in love with one of them. She fell in love with him got him to tell her all of his secrets."

Holly snorted. "And let me guess you want us to lure Rebekah over here after you did a successful job of pissing her off."

Klaus shrugged. "It's only one little thing that you have to do and believe me when I tell you, that that hunter there is the answer to all of your prayers."

* * *

"What ns bloody hell are you two doing here?" Rebekah snarled as she looked up from her glass of wine where she was at the Grill. "Need help finding friends?"

"Nope," Holly shrugged. "Klaus wants us to fake peace with you so that he can spill any dirty little secrets he has about the five."

Rebekah shrugged. "I bet, but I wouldn't help him, he'll just betray you that's what he does."

It took every inch of Holly's will power not to strangle Rebekah. "Fine, don't help him, help us, we need to figure out what this hunter is and what this five group wants."

"Listen, Rebekah Holly and I have talked and we're willing to give you a clean slate," Stefan interrupted. "We're not ready to forgive you for what you did to Elena, but we're willing to set it aside and start over. You're obviously not leaving town anytime soon and it can't be too easy wandering around school with no friends."

"Well, what if I don't care about what you or what anybody else thinks?"

Stefan narrowed his eyes towards Matt's direction. "Well, I'm pretty sure you care about what Matt over there thinks, so maybe I could talk to him about a clean slate too."

* * *

"I could kiss the council for burning up the vervain in town," Klaus said later that night at dinner. Holly and Stefan had joined them for dinner though it was obvious that Rebekah was still mad. "Rebekah, love eat your veggies."

"I'm not eating until you apologize."

"For what indiscretion there have been so many?"

"Your broke my neck!" Rebekah fumed. "You took me for granted!"

"That's what big brothers do sweetheart," Klaus said exasperated. "All right, fine I'm sorry I forgot how delicate you are. Forgive me?"

"I'll take it under consideration."

Holly started playing with her fork. "Can someone please talk about the hunter which was the whole point of this dinner in the first place?"

Klaus smiled. "Ah, yes Alexander nice chap in a way. One evening we invited him to dinner and he told me that he had a weapon that would make vampires ceased to exist."

Stefan put down his glass of wine. "What weapon? How is a weapon the answer to all of my prayers?"

Rebekah and Klaus exchanged looks.

Holly crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. "You have no idea where the weapon is do you?"

Klaus shook his head. "You're getting ahead of yourself love, because in order to find the weapon we need to solve the puzzle which seems to have disappeared."

"The tattoo." Stefan guessed. "What is it?"

"A map leading to all of its treasures."

"A fat load of help the tattoo is going to be in we can't see it," Rebekah finish flatly.

"We can't, but someone else can. You see the hunter was so desperate to get to the bottom of the tattoo, that he mentioned that there was only one other person that could see it." The double doors opened as a hybrid came in pulling Jeremy by the arm.

Holly flashed towards Jeremy and grabbed his arm. "We're going home now."

"I wouldn't love," Klaus said darkly. "He's going to help us, lucky for us young Jeremy is a bit of an artist."

"I'm not going to help you with anything."

The hybrid took Jeremy's Gilbert ring from his finger. "Oh, I'm afraid you are."

* * *

Holly sat back down rather unwillingly after Jeremy had been left with Conner. "So are you going to tell us anything else?"

"My sister's suitor was unwilling to tell us anything, however Rebekah was more than willing to investigate," Klaus frowned. "Alexander daggered us and put me and my siblings to sleep."

"How was I supposed to know?"

"Cheers," Klaus raised his glass. "To my sister's uncanny ability to choose men!"

"I thought the daggers didn't work on you because of your werewolf side," Stefan pointed out.

Klaus let out a low smirk. "They don't." he turned sharply to Rebekah. "I killed them all, but Rebekah managed to get some information out of him before. Come on Rebekah tell them what he said would bring an end to the vampire species."

"A cure." Rebekah gulped. "He said there was a cure."

"There is no cure for vampirism!" Stefan shouted at Klaus as the rest of the dining room party followed him towards the parlor. "Then why wouldn't you have searched for it? Found it?"

Klaus put down his glass with a loud crash. "Because when the hunters drew their final breath that night, the marks disappeared from their bodies, the map was gone, the brotherhood of the five extinct. For 900 years there was not another whisper of a hunter until your friend showed up in there."

Rebekah narrowed her eyes at her brother. "You want the cure for Elena don't you so that you can go back to mass producing yours hybrids? That's why you brought Holly and Stefan here because you knew that they would help you even though they hate your guts. You can shove your cure."

Holly turned to Klaus. "Well, great you managed to make her mad."

Klaus shrugged. "She would have never told me what I wanted to know," he turned to Stefan. "But she'll tell you, without the sword, the map is useless."

Stefan gulped. "What do you need me to do?"

"You need to get her to tell you where the sword is. You have a chance to save Elena form the very thing that is going to descry her. You may call it a deal with the devil if you'd like. But you know you won't be able to turn it down."

* * *

"I never did answer your question," Holly could hear Stefan and Rebekah speaking from the hall closet, they were both in the living room. "If it mean that I would grow old with her, have children with her, and be with her. If it meant that I would be able to be with her. Yes, I'd take the cure."

Rebekah smiled sadly. "I buried him, ever after everything I laid him to rest in the place where we were to be married. In a small church in Italy. What kind of hopeless fool does that?" she froze when she heard footsteps approaching.

Klaus came in holding a dagger. "You're right little sister, you really are a hopeless fool"

Holly flashed in front of Rebekah, her eyes filled with guilt. "Klaus, you don't have to do this."

"No, step aside Holly, let him." Rebekah said. "Fine, laugh ahead at the girl who loved too easily, but I would have rather lived my life than yours Nik, No one is going to sit around a table trading stories about a man who couldn't love. Do it you coward, do it!"

Klaus jabbed the dagger in Rebekah's chest as she started to desiccate.

Holly looked at him and watched as Rebekah's body hit the ground. "How many time are you going to betray her loyalty? Until you finally lose it forever?"

Klaus ignored Holly's remark, he turned to Stefan. "Hide my sister, compel Jeremy," he eyed them both. "No one must know about this, some secrets are stronger than family."

-End of Chapter Twenty Seven-


	28. The Killer

**Chapter Twenty Eight: The Killer**

"Klaus, this is serious," Holly emphasize as she closed the door of her bedroom door with a loud thump. "I'm kind of amaze that you're not as freaked out as I am over the fact that Conner is gone and he's trying to convince my brother to join his creepy five ritual."

"For starters love, it's not a ritual it's a group, one your brother is already in and two, I've learned not to sweat over the small stuff and I was already informed over out little dilemma." Klaus said. He was in Italy digging up the body of Alexander and his sword. "Second of all if the hunter took the hybrid's head that means he wants werewolf venom."

"Which mean that he plans to kill every vampire in Mystic Falls."

"And since I'm halfway around the world, your plan is not to die, sweetheart." Klaus smirked. "Losing you would be a pity, so your task is quite simple, get Stefan to help you. Get the hunter, but most of all keep him alive at all cost, he's no use to us dead."

Holly laid back down on her pillow. "Yeah, that may be a little difficult since Damon is even dreaming about killing him. It would be easier if I could just tell him the truth."

Klaus smirked. "You trust Damon with the cure? I suspect he likes Elena just the way she is, I heard those two have built up quite a little friendship-"

"Shut up." Holly snapped at him as she put her hair into a ponytail.

"Listen to me very well, Holly very few people, must find out about the cure, nations have gone to war over less. You or Stefan spill one word about this and I'll drop the sword in the Mediterrena Sea. Understood?"

"Crystal clear." Holly replied icily. She frowned when her phone rang indicating that she had a message. It was from Jeremy: Hunter at Mystic Grill with hostages. They die at sundown.

* * *

"What took you so long?" Elena demanded of Holly once Holly slipped inside the Lockwood house where everyone was meeting. "Holly, we can't waste any more time."

"I'm here aren't I?" she asked trying to contain her annoyance. "So what's the plan?"

"The plan is I'm going to rip Connor's head and feed it to him." Damon responded smugly.

Stefan's jaw twitched. "That's not a plan, we need to be careful Conner has Jeremy and who knows how many other hostages."

"Damon is right," Elena said. "Conner may be strong, but he's not going to be able to take down all of us."

Tyler nodded. "I called in the hybrids to help out too."

"My mom put in squad cars so we're good to go." Caroline pointed out as she came into the room.

Damon rubbed his hands together. "Good, no cops, no witnesses, we're good to go. Who's with me?"

"Wait!" Holly blurted out to the retreating figures. "We can't all go and first we need to figure out what's were getting into-"

"We've been figuring out," Damon snapped. "You and Stefan have been MIA all morning, where have you two been buying bossy pants."

"I'm sorry Damon that I don't feel like I want to walk into a death trap." Holly sarcastically shot back.

"Holly is right," Stefan defended Holly. "The guy has many tricks, maybe he has werewolf venom again. He had it before."

After a while Damon admitted. "Fine if you want some time to think, fine, but we're going to need some extra help, where's the wicked witch of the west?"

"She can't do magic." Caroline piped in.

Damon scoffed. "Really? Tell her Jeremy's life is in danger maybe that will bring her out of retirement."

* * *

April, Matt, and Jeremy were the apparent hostages. Holly and Stefan had to figure out a way to save them without killing Conner, otherwise Klaus would come back from Italy to kill them.

"Did you find the tunnel maps?" Stefan asked as him and Holly entered Alaric's loft.

"Got it, it was under the first drawer with seven stakes and some old book, he probably never bothered to read." Damon smirked. "So how about we get this party started?"

Stefan shook his head. "Not yet, Klaus is sending one of his hybrids. They are immune to the werewolf venom."

"Why is Klaus involve Stefan?" Damon demanded as Stefan secretly pulled out a vervain dart from the back pocket of his jeans. "You, Holly and him have been very buddy-buddy lately."

"Really, Damon?" Stefan said. "Are you going to let your jealousy get the best of you?"

"I'm not jealous of Klaus," Damon spat. "Screw your plan, we-"

Stefan didn't let him finfish as he jabbed the vervain dart in the side of his neck.

"Stefan!" Elena said.

Stefan ignored her. He turned to Holly. "Try to keep them both here, I'll get everyone out."

* * *

"Oh, my god." Holly whispered as she looked out the window and saw that there was a small explosion in the grill. "Elena, stay here with Damon, I need to go see what's happening-"

"Holly wait," Elena pulled on her arm. "What's wrong? Why are you being so secretive? What are your and Stefan hiding?"

"It's a good thing, Elena trust me." Holly said as she pulled away. "Keep Damon here, I'll be back soon."

* * *

Holly had managed to get April and Matt to safety while Stefan took Conner through the tunnels. Stefan was stopped by Damon. "Good work, brother, I had to punch my way in here, but it was worth it."

"I'm taking him with me."

"I don't know what Klaus has over you and Holly, but when I find out, I'm going to kill him." Damon snapped. "Why does Klaus want to keep him alive?"

"This has nothing to do with Klaus," Stefan said as he let go of Conner. "Run!"

Damon pinned Stefan against the wall by grabbing his heart. "Why are you protecting him?" he pressed harder. "Tell me!"

"Connor's tattoo is a cure," he grunted. "A cure for vampirism, for Elena."

"Klaus told you that there is a cure for vampirism?"

Stefan nodded as Damon removed his hand. "Yes and if Conner dies we lose it forever, I know

It's crazy Damon, but it's hope."

* * *

Conner was running through the tunnels when he suddenly ran into Elena, she gripped his shoulders and bit into his neck. "Stay away from my brother!"

"Look at you," Conner said. "So worried about your brother. You'll the biggest monster he'll ever meet."

Holly who had been right behind Elena saw that Conner was raising a stake and was seconds away from plunging it into Elena. Holly's eyes flashed, without thinking she vamp flash towards Conner and broke his neck.

"Holly," Elena gasped. "You killed him, you killed the hunter."

Holly's realization hit her hard, she had killed the hunter, and Elena wasn't going to get the cure. "Oh, my god, oh my god I killed him. This wasn't, I didn't mean too-"

"Holly," Elena insisted. "This is a good thing."

"No, Elena it isn't," Holly said. "I'm so sorry, Conner . . . Conner he knew about a cure to make you human and I ruined it . . . I'm so sorry, I'm sorry."

* * *

Elena wasn't going to be human. Klaus was going to be pissed at her. Holly had killed the hunter. She was so damn stupid. She felt the warm water of the shower hitting her back, but it did little to relax her. It was all her damn fault.

She looked down at her feet and gasped when she saw that she was bathing in blood. She quickly got out of the shower in a panic and saw that then entire bathroom was covered in blood. Conner's body was draped over the sink.

Holly screamed as she raced towards her room, everything looked normal.

She turned around and saw that the bathroom looked fine, there wasn't blood at all. "What the hell is happening to me?"

-End of Chapter Twenty Eight-


	29. We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes

**Chapter Twenty Nine: We all Go a Little Mad Sometimes**

Holly watched the clock on the microwave, it was a little after midnight. She had spent hours tossing and turning and feeling like she couldn't sleep until she finally relented and headed downstairs for a cup of tea.

She grabbed a cup and turned around, she gasped when she saw Conner in front of her and dropped the cup. Conner cocked his head at her. "Can't sleep?"

Holly gulped. "Your dead, you're supposed to be dead! I killed you!"

Conner cocked his head. "And yet I'm still here."

Holly ran a nervous hand through her dark hair. "No, you're a ghost, you can't be here." Elena had decided to stay over at Bonnie's. There was only one other person there. "Jeremy!"

"Stay away from me!" Holly shouted. "You're a ghost, you're not real."

Conner narrowed his eyes. "Can a ghost do this?" he gripped her by the neck and Holly struggled to breath. Holly grabbed the kitchen knife and stabbed it in Connor's throat. Connor's face disappeared and instead she saw Jeremy's anxious one.

Holly gasped as her brother fell down. "No, Jeremy no, no," she saw that he had his ring, but that didn't make her feel better. "No, Jeremy no, no. . .No...Please."

* * *

Holly paced around the living room trying to ignore the fact that her hands were covered in blood and that she was waiting for Jeremy to wake up and that her ex-boyfriend was in the room watching her pace back and forth like an insane person. "What am I even supposed to say to him, Damon?"

Damon winced. "Thanks for not ditching the family ring after it drove Ric crazy."

Holly glared at him.

"Kidding, look I'm sure if he can forgive me for snapping his neck, he can forgive you for accidently stabbing him." This didn't seem to make Holly feel better, especially since she seem to want to burst into tears. "It's going to be ok, Holly. Jeremy will forgive you, it was an accident and Stefan promised that he won't say a word to Elena."

Holly nodded. "I need to go upstairs and shower, I have blood all over my hands."

* * *

Stefan was downstairs with Damon in the kitchen when his cell phone rang. "It's Klaus."

Damon raised an eyebrow. "Well, answer him, you may not want to mention that his second in command accidently killed the hunter."

"He already knows." Stefan said flatly as he answered the phone. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Well, I can't imagine why with you and Holly ruining my plans for a hybrid filled future."

Damon and Stefan exchanged looks. "You're using your calm voice today who's getting killed."

Klaus chuckled. "Not you, if that is what you're worried about. But I am worried about our little vampire have the hallucinations started yet. Conveniently I'm at her house, open the door."

Damon opened the door and stepped outside. "Talk."

Klaus smirked. "I killed the original five hunters and when one kills a hunter there is a bit of a consequence. The hunters were spelled by witches to kill vampires, if your prevent one from fulfilling their destiny, they'll take you down with him."

"What do you mean Conner is dead?"

"I mean Conner's death won't prevent him from making Holly his final vampire kill." Klaus smirked. "She'll have to come with me, I'll keep her safe, prevent her from taking her own life."

"She wouldn't do that," Damon scoffed. "She's stronger, you don't know her."

"Clearly, believe me, it's for her own good."

* * *

Holly was upstairs in her room brushing her hair when she saw that Conner was right behind her. She gasped. "Leave me alone, you were trying to kill my sister, I did what I had to do-"

"Did you?" Conner said. "You and Elena are both monster and you deserve to die."

"No!" Holly ran downstairs into the kitchen and she relaxed when she saw Damon standing over the sink. Damon quickly transformed into Conner. "Stop it!"

"Holly, what-"

Holly ignored him as she ran outside where she felt Klaus' arms around her waist. "You're safe now, love." He said as he took her away.

* * *

"What the hell are you doing Klaus?" Holly demanded as she pulled away from Klaus she frowned as she looked around the room that she was in, in Klaus 'mansion. It was very elegant.

"I have to apologize for the lack of windows." He said. "Is to preserve the art and to prevent you from taking off your ring and burning in the sun."

"I don't have any suicidal tendencies!" she snapped.

"But you will," Klaus said. "I did, the problem is that I'm immortal."

She cocked her head to the side. "You went through what I went through?"

Klaus nodded. "For 52 years, four months, and 9 days, it was the only period when I actually felt time. You should have listen to me love, when I told you to keep him alive. Oh, well." Klaus smirked. "At least we'll be in the same house."

"How did you make it stop?" she demanded.

"I didn't, eventually it went away," Klaus looked at her with almost pity. "Be careful, the hallucinations appear in strange forms."

* * *

"Clothes, toothbrush," one of the hybrids, Chris put down a bag on the bed. "Klaus says that you're going to be staying here a while."

Holly gritted her teeth as she hugged herself. "Just go away, please."

"I can't," Conner said as he appeared. "I'm going to be with you forever, I'm going to ruin your life, Holly."

Holly glared at him. "I'm not going to let you do this to me!"

Conner gave her a cynical smile. "You don't want to listen to me, fine." Conner turned to Katherine. "Then how about you and I have a little chat?"

Holly blinked. "Katherine?"

Katherine smirked at her. "Did you miss me?" she saw Holly's anguish face. "Poor, little Holly always the victim. What does Damon think of the new you? I bet a part of him is secretly pleased, he finally turned you into his own killing machine."

"Shut up!"

Katherine paused. "On second though he seems to go for the sweet, naïve types, maybe that's the reason why he fell for your sister, you're like me now, maybe worse. Well, at least you still have Klaus."

"Shut up!" she shouted as she tried to attack Katherine, but landed on the bed.

* * *

"You were such a good girl when you were a human," Katherine said as she sat down on the edge of the bed. "Such a clever little witch, all though after you became a vampire you became useless."

"You were the one that turned me into a vampire." She hissed. "This is all your fault! I know what you want and I'm not going to kill myself."

"Why not?" Katherine groaned. "You existence brings people nothing but pain, you're useless now. Maybe if you're dead Damon and Elena can finally be happy."

She heard the door open and Elena came in. "Hey," she said. "Holly, hey."

Holly turned around and saw Conner. "Stay away from me!" she hissed as she vamp flash out of the room as she pushed Elena against the wall.

* * *

Holly gulped as she walked down the dark street, her mind going crazy. She remembered becoming a vampire, feeding on people when she and Stefan had been with Klaus, killing innocent people. Conner and Katherine were walking right beside her.

"Are you ready to die yet?" Conner asked.

"You can never undo what you did, you ruined Elena's life." Katherine said.

Holly stopped walking and she realized that she was on Wickery Bridge. "It's ok, sweetie," Miranda was standing right beside her. "You know what you need to do."

"Mom?" Holly gasped. It was her mom. "Mom, I don't know what to do. I'm scared."

"Oh, honey you know exactly what to do." Miranda stared at her daylight ring. "The sun will be up soon, you know that this is the right thing, Holly. Admit it."

Holly nodded slowly as she took off her ring and threw it into the water... "Because I'm a monster and I deserve to die."

* * *

Holly could see the sun peeking slowly over the horizon. She gulped. "I can't do this, I can't leave Jeremy and Elena. They won't have anyone else."

"They'll have you," Miranda said. "You'll be a ghost who helps them, not someone that ruins their lives."

Holly's lip trembled. "You're right . . . I never wanted to hurt anyone . . . I didn't want to disappoint you."

"You didn't. But then you died and you were supposed to stay dead."

"Holly," Holly turned around and saw Damon with a concern look.

"How did you find me?" she asked him.

"I know you." Damon said simply.

"I'm a terrible person." Holly said quietly. "I do horrible things without thinking, I'm a monster."

Damon frowned at her. "Holly, it was one mistake, no reason for you to do anything stupid." He saw that the sun was about to come out. "Where's your ring Holly?"

"It's almost time." Conner whispered.

"Damn it," Damon said. "We need to get you inside, we know how to break it-"

"Don't let him stop you."

"Damn it, Holly!" Damon murmured as he saw the sun coming up, he grabbed Holly and tumbled her down inside the water.

* * *

Holly opened her eyes slowly, it took her a minute to realize that she was back in her room and that her daylight ring was back on her finger. She saw Damon sitting at the edge of her bed. "Damon?"

"I fished that out of the water for you," Damon explained. "How are you feeling? The curse should have been broken."

She nodded, "I feel fine, like it was all a bad dream. Thank you, if you hadn't been there-"

"I know I'm glad that I was," Damon said as he squeezed her hand.

"How did you break the curse?" Holly asked him.

Damon hesitated before he said it. "Fun fact, to get rid of the curse you need to kill a hybrid. We killed Chris."

Holly raised her glance. "What did you promise him in exchange for one of his precious hybrids?"

"A date." He said. "With you."

-End of Chapter Twenty Nine-


	30. My Brother's Keeper

**Chapter Thirty: My Brother's Keeper**

"You and Elena broke up?" Holly echoed into the phone as she struggled to walk in heels towards the Lockwood house where the Miss Mystic Falls pageant was taking place tomorrow. She was talking with Stefan over the phone and she couldn't believe what she had heard Elena loved Stefan. "Why?"

"We can't deny that ever since Elena became a vampire, she's changed and maybe not for the better," Stefan hesitated before he said. "Holly, she told me that she has some feelings for Damon, I don't know if they are love related or not, but I just thought that you should know."

Holly nodded, feeling a lump in her throat. "I had a hunch. Are you all right?"

"Kind of," Stefan said. "I'm kind of focus on Jeremy's mark to grow, we need to find that cure now more than anything."

Holly nodded as she watched Elena and Caroline talking in the distance. "Do whatever you need to do." She headed towards the trucks where Caroline had put her in charge of flowers. Two girls were holding white centerpieces with red roses.

Holly frowned. "I'm pretty sure that Caroline ordered pink roses." She frowned. "Put them on the table, hopefully Caroline won't notice, though I doubt it."

"Planning parties isn't your thing is it, love," Klaus said as he stood behind her.

"I'd love to chat, but I'm busy." Holly said dryly as she returned back to the flowers.

"I was wondering at what time I should pick you up tomorrow."

Holly shook her head. "You're not coming, the last thing we need is more death victims, believe me last year was enough."

Klaus narrowed his eyes. "I was promised a date in return for one of my hybrids to prevent you from going insane, didn't Damon tell you?"

"Yeah, like maybe to the movies or bowling. Something normal, you hate pageants."

"I detest movies and I don't bowl. I love pageants." He said simply. "Surely your flower duties should be over by tomorrow."

"Fine." Holly said. "Tomorrow 2PM. Black tie optional and no presents, I know how you like to give those away, but no I don't want anything."

Klaus smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow, Holly."

* * *

The next afternoon Holly was already at the pageant trying to avoid both her sister and Damon who seemed to be doing the same thing. She had opted to wear a simple dark green and black dress with simple black heels.

She overlooked the pageant, she couldn't believe that only a year ago Elena had asked her to take her place so that she could look for Stefan.

"You look perfect," Klaus said as he came towards her wearing a nice suit. "And how am I doing?"

"You're pretty perfect as well," she tugged back a loose piece of hair. "Well, aren't we having a date or not?"

Klaus smiled. "Lead the way."

* * *

Holly and Klaus walked towards the Lockwood pond, Klaus was holding a bottle of champagne and two glasses. "You're upset."

"Kind of," Holly admitted, her mind was everywhere. "It's Elena. . . vampirism has changed her, she's not how she used to be, I don't know maybe I'm just jealous, I didn't have this much support when I was turned and I just need to get over myself."

"Or maybe you're right, maybe she has changed," a slow smirk appeared on his face. "How very peculiar."

"What's that look for?"

"You'll understand soon enough," they sat down on a small bench and he started pouring champagne inside a glass and handed it to her. "I'm working on finding the cure, though you did make it difficult by killing my only lead and leaving us with your brother."

Holly smirked. "Would you ever take it? The cure?"

Klaus cocked his head to the side. "Now why would I want to cure myself of being the most powerful creature on the planet, hmm?"

"I don't know, I thought I would give it a shot, isn't there a single moment in your life when you wished to be human?" Holly asked. "I know I've had, more than once at least when I was a witch I was useful."

"You are useful," Klaus corrected. "You're useful to me."

Holly scoffed. "Well, thank you for saying so, after today I needed the cheerfulness."

"I never did answer your question about being human," Klaus responded. "One day I was in a trek through the mountains and I came across a hummingbird and I heard how fast its heart was beating and how satisfying it must be to fight every single day to survive, that's the only time I thought about being human."

Holly smiled. "Wow, that-"

Before she could even finish her sentence she felt Klaus pulled her close as he kissed her softly. Holly pulled away and blushed as she stood up. "I'm sorry Klaus, I can't."

* * *

Elena kept touching her neck as she touched the wound that her brother had created with a stake as she walked across the gardens. She couldn't believe that Jeremy had attacked her, were his hunting instincts going into overload?

"Elena!" Stefan called out. "Elena wait! This is my fault!"

Elena turned around and faced him. "What are you talking about?"

Stefan took a deep breath. "I'm starting to think that when a vampire kills a hunter the urge to kill gets stronger."

Elena's mood darkened as she realized what Stefan was saying. "Tell me that Jeremy hasn't been with you, tell me that you haven't forced him to kill vampires, Stefan! Does Holly know about this?"

"Not the whole story," Stefan admitted. "But she wants to get the cure for you as much as I do-"

"If getting my humanity back means stripping Jeremy of his, then I don't want the cure."

"He's the way to fix all of this."

Elena's face saddened. "You mean me? He's the only way to fix me. You don't have to love me like this, the old Elena died when she went off that bridge let her go."

* * *

Matt entered the Gilbert house and saw that Jeremy was hastily packing a bag. "What are you doing?"

"I can't keep living here if I want to kill my sisters."

"They know that Jeremy," Matt said. "That's why they are moving out, and I'm going to stay here with you to keep this hunter thing in check."

"Where are they going to go?" Jeremy asked.

Matt shrugged. "Where do you think?"

* * *

Elena opened the Salvatore door holding a bag and seeing Damon and Stefan. She squirmed. "I can't stay at home anymore."

Stefan nodded, there was evident hurt in his eyes. "Pick any room you want. Holly is staying at Caroline's. She's going to be living there fora while."

* * *

"Thanks," Elena said as she sat down and Damon handed her a glass of bourbon. "My brother wants to kill me."

"Join the club."

Elena scoffed. "Jeremy can't live with me, Stefan wants to fix me, Holly can't stand me as a vampire and she hates that I'm a vampire. It's safe to say that I'm not good at this vampire business."

"You know what I think," Damon said as he stared at her. "I think I never seen you more alive." Elena and him had gotten close somewhat when Holly and Stefan were with Klaus and Elena reminded him so much of Holly.

"I wanted to dance with you today." Elena admitted. "Holly and Klaus were together, I saw them."

"I don't care," Damon offered his hand as they started slowly dancing and then they slowly started kissing.

* * *

"Holly? Earth to Holly are you ok?" Caroline asked as she handed Holly a blanket. Apparently both she and Stefan were crashing in Caroline's living room. "What's with you?"

"Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind," Holly admitted. "Thanks for letting us stay here Care, we needed to get away from everything."

"Look, you two just need to find the cure and fix all of this." Caroline told them.

Stefan scoffed. "The only reason that Klaus wants to make Elena human was to make more hybrids."

"He's going to need them, Tyler has most of the hybrids unsired." Her blue eyes widened. "Oh, my god."

Holly and Stefan exchanged looks. "What?"

"Don't you see that every time Elena has a problem Damon is the magic solution? When Elena started feeding who told her that she could only drink from the vein?"

"Damon."

"And when she couldn't keep neither the blood bags nor animal blood down?"

"It was because Damon told her not to."

Caroline started pacing around the room. "Damon likes the red dress, Elena likes the red dress. What if it's possible, Damon's blood made her a vampire. It's rare but what if it's true?"

Holly gulped. "Elena is sired to Damon."

-End of Chapter Thirty-

Thanks for your reviews!


	31. We'll Always Have Bourbon Street

**Chapter Thirty One: We'll Always Have Bourbon Street**

Holly knew that she couldn't avoid Klaus forever, nor did she want too especially now that he had kissed her. Holly didn't know how she should feel. She wasn't angry exactly, but she wasn't comfortable either and the kiss had come out of nowhere. Holly, however wanted to figure out this whole mess with Klaus before Damon and Stefan came back from New Orleans, hopefully with news about a cure for the sire bond.

She knocked twice on the door and when no one unlocked the door, she went inside. She found Klaus in his art studio. "Hello, didn't you hear me knocking?"

"It would have been impossible not to hear you, Holly." Klaus said without bothering to look back up from his easel. "What is it? I'm in no mood for company."

"You were right, what you were trying to say last night. Elena is sired to Damon." Holly said. "But that's not all that I wanted to talk to you about."

Klaus smirked as he turned towards her. "You want to know why I kissed you. I'm afraid the answer is quite obvious, love."

Holly raised an eyebrow, trying to hide the blush from her cheeks. "Is it?"

"Yes," Klaus chuckled in amusement as he petted her cheek, so that he could feel the heat radiating from it. "And I can tell by the way that you blush whenever you're around me."

"I do not!" Holly replied hotly. "And even if I do, that's no excuse for you to play with me and my feelings."

Klaus shook his head. "I can assure you, that I'm not playing love far from it-I love you Holly. Even though I know your heart belongs to another," he turned back to his easel. "Don't worry I won't kiss you again, until I'm sure that you feel something else for me."

"Well, thank you," Holly said awkwardly. "I appreciate it."

"I'm sure you do."

A painting of the sunset caught her interest. "Did you paint this?" she wondered. "It's beautiful."

"You can't keep it."

Holly shook her head. "Oh, no, I-"

Klaus pressed the painting in her hands. "Keep it Holly, maybe it will remind you of my affections."

* * *

"I love this bathtub," Elena said as she rested herself inside Damon's bathtub. Her, Caroline, and Bonnie had been having a girls' night filled with drinking and dancing and had somehow ended up in Damon's room. "Why don't we come here and spend more time here?"

"I'll tell you why, cooties," Caroline giggled. "Think of all the germ ridden skanks that Damon had brought here, I don't know how Holly ever put up with him." She saw the upset looks on both Elena and Bonnie's faces. "Sorry, I've been good all night, I'll stop now."

"No, continue I mean it's only Damon right." Elena snapped. "Though I wonder what made you jump into bed the second you met him."

Caroline cocked her head. "I didn't know was a narcissistic, psychopath he was."

"He's always been there when I needed him, especially now."

"That's because he's hoping you'll sleep with him."

"Well, maybe I did," Elena blurted out. "And I was hoping to tell my two best friends tonight, I was hoping that you would be happy for me."

"Happy?" Caroline blurted out.

"Elena," Bonnie hesitated. "Damon is Holly's ex-boyfriend, your sister. Wont that make things a little awkward."

"Maybe at first, but Damon and Holly have been broken up since the Mikaelson ball, not to mention that Klaus is interested in Holly now." Elena said. "Look, I know it breaks the sister code or whatever, but I think I'm starting to fall in love with him."

"You're not in love with him Elena! You're sired to him!" Caroline suddenly let out.

"What?" Bonnie squinted.

Caroline took a deep breath. "I didn't meant for it to come out that way. Damon's blood turned you and you've been doing everything he says-"

"Are you sure?" Bonnie asked as Elena got out of the bathtub and headed towards the living room.

"Yeah, ask Holly or Stefan they can explain it better than I can."

Elena narrowed her eyes. "They know?" Elena angrily opened the door. "You need to leave now." Elena opened the door and saw that Holly was coming towards their direction, probably coming to pick up a few stuff.

"Hi," Holly said watching their faces. "Are you guys ok?"

Elena tried to keep her temper in control. "We're fine, Holly."

"Not for long," suddenly Kim, one of Tyler's hybrids appeared and grasped Holly by the throat. "Sorry girls, we need a word with Klaus' girl." And before any of them could react they were gone.

* * *

Holly let out a yell of pain as Kim pressed down the shackles on her arms. "Why are you doing this? Who the hell are you?"

"I'm one of Tyler's friends," Kim hissed. "And I need to teach him a lesson."

Tyler and Elena came rushing into the room, "Stop it, Kim!" Tyler shouted. "Holly is a friend we're all in this together." Two of the hybrids grabbed both Elena and Tyler.

"Ease up, Kim," Adrian, another of the hybrids said. "Klaus won't like this."

"That's a very good point," Kim said as she raised a stake. "Maybe if I kill his beloved Holly he'll learn a lesson too."

"No wait," Elena cried out. "If you really want to hit Klaus where it hurts, then torture me instead. He wants to keep me alive."

Kim stood up and went towards Elena, she was about to grip her throat when Tyler managed to break free and pressed Kim against the wall. "Stay back or I will rip her heart out!" he said to the hybrid. "Kim put you all at risk today, but I'm not going to hurt her, I'm not Klaus. I want all of us to work together so that we can be free. "So you're either with me or against me. Submit or you die."

"I'm sorry," Kim squeaked.

Tyler removed his hand away from Kim as the hybrids started kneeling down on the ground showing their submission.

* * *

"I'm fine," Holly reassured Elena once they were safely back at the Salvatore house. "Tyler was the hero, something tells me that Kim would have enjoyed seeing me dead."

"I know," Elena told her. "About the sire bond, Caroline spilled the beans. I didn't know."

"I know those are rare," she said. "Elena, I didn't want you to find out this way, Stefan and Damon went to New Orleans to find out if there was a way as to break out of it-"Elena hugged Holly tightly.

"I'm sorry." Elena said as she pulled away.

"Because of the sire bond?" Holly question, letting out a small laugh. "Elena, don't apologize, it wasn't your fault, and you had no control over it."

"No, it's-"Elena trailed off before she shook her head. "Nothing, I'm just glad that you're ok, Holly."

-End of Chapter Thirty One-


	32. O Come All Ye Faithful

**Chapter Thirty Two: O Come, All Ye Faithful**

"Find anything yet?" Holly asked Stefan. They were both in the empty library at the Salvatore Estate, not really sure what they were looking for. Klaus had the sword, now they only needed for Jeremy's tattoo to lead them to the map. Now they only wanted to make sure that Klaus wouldn't try to get a head start, the problem was that nobody seemed to have written anything about the cure.

"No." Stefan's cell phone rang and he answered it. "Yes, right now is not a good time."

"I don't care," Caroline said at the other end, she was already at the Winter Wonderland festival in town. "I'm going through a crisis and I need both you and Holly in my time of need, where are you?"

"We're at Stefan's house, Care," Holly said. "What's wrong?"

Caroline sighed. "My boyfriend is a dumb ass martyr. Did you find anything else about the sword?"

Stefan nodded. "I went to visit Klaus this morning and got him to tell me a little bit more about the sword, it detects the map, it's literally the tool needed to find the cure."

"And did he happen to hand over the sword for safekeeping?" Caroline asked brightly.

Stefan snorted. "What do you think?"

"What's going on Caroline?" Holly asked her, she had a feeling that the blond wasn't saying something.

"We need to get our hands on that sword today." Caroline said. "Tyler and his hybrids are taking down Klaus tonight."

* * *

Holly hated how they kept using her to distract Klaus, especially since Klaus hadn't done anything remotely evil to them in the past few weeks, heck he had even kissed her. But it was either fool Klaus for a few hours or let Tyler get himself killed.

Holly cocked her head to the side as she inspected Klaus's postmodern snowflake that he had donated.

"This is nice." Holly told him as she turned towards Klaus. He was fool if he thought that she hadn't seen him. "A little depressing but nice. A good way to describe the upcoming events."

Klaus smiled. "I'll take that as a compliment. Can I offer you some champagne?"

Holly raised an eyebrow. "You do realize I'm underage . . . permanently?" she bit her lip. "Though maybe we could have it outside, so that no one can see it."

Klaus nodded. "Your wish is my command."

* * *

An hour later Holly managed to leave Klaus and found Caroline and Stefan positioned in the alleyway, looking frustrated. "So I'm guessing you didn't get the sword."

Caroline shook her head. "What else are we going to do?"

"Klaus is the only chance we have of finding the cure." Stefan protested. "You're going to have to tell Tyler to call it off."

"Well, that's not going to happen." Tyler said flatly as he stood on top of the stairway, glaring at them. "You told them, Caroline? I've had 12 hybrids sworn to secrecy for a month, I have Hayley, and a witch risking their lives and you're blabbering to them?"

Stefan stepped forward. "Look, all I'm asking is for a little bit of more time-"

Tyler shook his head. "I'm sorry, I can't let you do that. I don't owe him anything." Hybrids began to appear behind Tyler, each one of them glaring them down. "I'm sorry, man but you don't have a choice."

* * *

"Tyler!" Caroline hollered at Tyler as he pulled back down a box of chains. The hybrids had dragged Holly, Stefan, and Caroline into the Lockwood cellar so that they didn't interfere in their plans.

"Keep them down here until we're ready to bring Klaus in," Tyler told Kim. "Use this if you have to."

"Tyler, please," Holly begged, "We need to get this cure!"

"I know what it means Holly," Tyler said flatly. "And I'm sorry, but us hybrids don't give a rat's ass about the cure." He turned to Caroline. "I needed you on my side, Care that's all I wanted."

Holly turned to Kim once Tyler had left, "This is stupid, let us out!" she tried to vamp flash out, but Kim as a hybrid was faster than her.

Kim threw her a nasty smile. "I don't think so sweetheart, now back away before I rip open your tonsils."

Holly threw her a nasty glare as she turned back towards Stefan and Caroline.

Stefan's phone started ringing. "Relax, it's my brother." He answered the call. "What's up Damon?"

"Don't ask how or why but I just found out the answer to your Tyler problem." Damon smirked.

After a few seconds, Stefan smiled. "You're kidding." He hung up and turned to them. "We don't need the sword."

* * *

"Hey, mom," Tyler said brightly over the phone. "Things have changed, I'll see you later." He turned towards Hayley who was walking towards him. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be leading the witch to the cellar. Where's Caroline? She's supposed to lead you to Rebekah's body so that you can put Klaus spirit into it."

"There's no witch Tyler," Hayley admitted. "I made it up. I never intended to put Klaus down I needed him for the sacrifice."

Tyler squinted. "The what?"

Hayley bit her lip. "I don't know how to explain it I made a deal to someone that can help me find my family. They needed to be 12 for the sacrifice Tyler." She looked at the floor. "I'm sorry, Tyler."

"Hayley?" Tyler gaped. "What did you do?"

Hayley turned around. "If you leave now, you might make it out alive."

* * *

Klaus was covered in hybrid blood by the time that he reached the Lockwood cellar and only one hybrid remained, Kim. Hayley had told him about Tyler's plan and how they needed to kill twelve hybrids to die to create the Expression Triangle so that Silas could be revive and have power. "Where is Tyler Lockwood?" He demanded, Klaus pressed the sword to her "You better answer me, love."

Klaus jabbed the sword in her throat. "Where is he?"

"I don't know."

"Wrong answer." With one quick swipe Klaus cut off Kim's head, he looked around breathing heavily every one of his hybrids was dead except for Tyler.

* * *

"Tyler, honey you're supposed to be my sober cab," Carol laughed. She was at the town square, sitting down at the edge of the fountain. The party had ended an hour ago and she was leaving a message for Tyler so that he didn't worry. "I think I drank half of the party."

Klaus approached her slowly, he was heavily drenched in blood. "Good evening, Carol. You're looking for Tyler? I'd like to have a word with him myself."

Carol gulped. "Klaus, please don't hurt him, he's my son. He's all I have."

"And you're all he has, that has a beautiful symmetry doesn't it?" Klaus gave her a wicked smile as he grasped Carol by the throat and submerged her into the water. Carol struggled and kicked, but after a while she stopped moving and Klaus looked back satisfied. She was dead.

-End of Chapter Thirty Two-


	33. After School Special

**Chapter Thirty Three: After School Special**

Holly along with her other classmates were sitting down in the school gym holding candles in honor of Carol Lockwood. Liz cleared her throat as she began speaking. "Carol Lockwood was a great friend, a wonderful person, and a great leader to the community. She was taken too soon by a terrible accident."

"Screw this." Tyler who was sitting on the bottom row grumbled as he exited the gym.

Liz ignored the fact that Tyler left and continued with her speech. "Please join me in observing an honoring her memory."

Holly bowed her head, she flinched when through the corner of her eye she saw blond hair. Rebekah? No it wasn't possible, Rebekah was daggered. "I'll be right back," she murmured as she exited the gym and went into the hallway. There was no sign of Rebekah anywhere.

She stopped short when she realized that April was crying. "April, what's wrong? Are you ok?'

"Holly, it's nice to see you," April sniffled. "It's just the mayor thing, it's bringing a lot of things up from my dad . . . and I know that you're a vampire."

Holly frowned. "Wait, what?"

Rebekah came behind her and snapped her neck. April took a step back. "Was that necessary?"

Rebekah shrugged. "No, but we both know that she wasn't going to come willingly."

* * *

Holly woke up slowly and it took her a few minutes to realize that she was in the library. She sat up and noticed April.

"The assembly is over," April said coldly. "Everyone will be going home soon. Did you ever compel me? Did you ever kill anyone? Don't lie, Rebekah says she's not sure if you're trustworthy?"

"Were you the one that pulled the dagger out of Rebekah?" Holly guessed. "April what has she told you?"

"The truth," Rebekah stepped forward. "And all of you are going to get the truth, now come along, the rest of the class will be here shortly."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later Rebekah was dragging Stefan, Elena, and Caroline into the room. Holly stood up, wondering what was going on. Rebekah narrowed her eyes. "Did I say I say you could move?"

Holly unwillingly sat down.

"Class is in session," Rebekah said chirpily as the rest of them sat down. "You've been compelled, answer my questions honestly. April, my sweet takes notes. Let's start with a little quiz in the year 1114 my brother learned about the brotherhood of the five that was made of vampire hunters with a tattoo that grew with each kill. These tattoos reveal what, Holly?"

Holly crossed her arms over her chest. "A map."

"Which led to Caroline?"

"A cure for vampirism."

Rebekah smiled. "Perfect, we're all caught up, Stefan Salvatore the last time we saw each other you got the location of the sword using some very dirty tricks. Assuming you found the sword, you also found the cure, yet you're all still vampires what happened?" she looked at April. "What are you doing?"

April looked up from her notes. "You told me to take notes."

"I wasn't being literal darling," Rebekah said. "But now that you mention it a flow chart might be nice go fetch."

"You're wasting your time," Stefan said tightly. "We don't know anything."

Rebekah looked at them surprise as she looked around. "So you just gave up? I thought you would do anything to save Elena, even if it meant taking the cure yourself so that you could grow old together." She saw the shocked looked on Elena and Holly's face. "Why do you look so surprise? I'm missing something what is it?"

"They broke up ok," Caroline blurted out. "Now let us go."

Rebekah let out a laugh. "Broke up? Wait, I'm confused I thought Elena was your epic love, Stefan what happened?"

Stefan sighed as he avoided looking at Holly. "She slept with Damon."

Holly narrowed her eyes at her sister, her heart was beating loudly inside her chest and the hurt and shame was overwhelming. "You slept with Damon? How? When? Why?"

Rebekah put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Hold on Holly darling, we have plenty of time, believe me I know what it's like to be betrayed. Now what I would like to know is how sweet, loving, innocent Elena could be so heartless towards Stefan and betray her own sister, who knew that Holly still had feelings for Damon. Answer please."

Stefan gulped. "She didn't know it at the time, but she was sired to Damon."

"A sire bond, that's fascinating." Rebekah smirked. "What do you think of that Elena?" when Elena refused to answer Rebekah forcibly forced her to turn to her. "You're hiding something what is it?"

Elena faced her. "I didn't sleep with Damon because of the sire bond. I slept with Damon because I'm in love with him."

Holly let out a small desperate squeak. "What?" she turned to Caroline. "You knew about this? You knew that she slept with him and you didn't tell me?"

"I'm so sorry-"

"Enough!" Rebekah interrupted. "We can have our fun later, how do I find this cure unless you rather talk about your mess of your lives all day."

"There's a professor." Holly said glaring at Elena. "He knows where the cure is."

"Thank you and how do I find this professor?"

* * *

"Sister," Kol smiled as he dragged Shane in a half an hour later. He glanced around at the tension in the room and noticed the upset faces. "What is this? You're worse than Klaus."

"Kol finally," Rebekah approached them. "You must be Shane, let's go to someplace private where we can talk."

Rebekah and Kol pushed Shane into the supply closet down the hall. Shane looked at them with wonder. "Kol and Rebekah Mikaelson of the Original family this is such a trip!"

Rebekah ignored him as she tried to compel him. "Where's the cure?"

"Compulsion won't work, it's a little trick I picked up in Tibet."

Rebekah frowned as she turned to Kol who was smiling. "Fine, I guess we're going to have to do this the old fashion way. Beat him until he tells you where the cure is."

Rebekah found her way back to the library where everyone was still avoiding each other. "Still glued to your seats? How about we play a game, Elena truth or dare?"

After a few seconds she grunted. "Truth."

"Do you still love Stefan?"

"Yes."

"Are you still in love with Stefan?"

There were tears in her eyes as she whispered. "No."

Rebekah turned to Stefan, there was pain in his eyes. "Did that hurt?" Rebekah prompted. "Having someone dig a dagger in your heart?"

"Go to hell." Stefan choked out.

"Did. That. Hurt?"

Stefan gritted his teeth. "Yes."

Rebekah smiled satisfied. "Welcome to the last 900 years of my life. Now let's move on to the other injured party." She turned to Holly. "Holly, truth or dare."

"Dare."

Rebekah pushed back a piece of Holly's chocolate brown hair. "I heard that you and Klaus have been real chummy lately. I want you to tell us about your relationship what do you feel for him?"

Holly gulped. "Klaus and I have a complicated relationship ever since Stefan and I joined him that summer. We meet once before, but I thought he was a stranger and he could have killed me or gotten to Elena sooner, but he didn't. He was kind to me. He's given me some of his pictures and yes he has been cruel, he has managed to tear my life to pieces, but I don't hate hate him. Not anymore. We've kissed once."

"Are you still in love with Damon?"

"Yes." Holly said. "He broke up with me at the Mikaelson ball and his jealousy issues have made our relationship difficult."

"Are you in love with Klaus?"

Holly bit her lip. "I don't know, I'm not sure-but I can't deny that I have feeling for him."

Rebekah stood up. "That's my girl." The double doors opened and Tyler came in. "Finally. It was just getting depressing."

"What the hell is going on?" Tyler demanded.

Rebekah ignored him as she turned towards them. "Listen carefully, no vamp running in the hallways."

"Vamp running from what?" Caroline asked.

Rebekah ignored her as she compelled Tyler. "Turn."

"What?"

"He can't." Caroline said. "He'll lose control."

Rebekah turned around and said exasperated. "That's the whole point, I've gotten everything that I need to know. You're just competition. Turn."

"But if I turn I'll kill them." Tyler said.

Rebekah nodded. "That's the whole point," she turned to Holly. "Since my brother will kill me if I hurt his precious Holly, you're free to go, you don't want the cure and you've been kicked a lot for one day."

Holly didn't say anything as she exited the library. She wanted to get out of there. She couldn't stand and be there a second longer.

"Holly! Holly wait!" Elena said as she catched up next to her. "How could you have fallen in love with Klaus? He's a monster! He ruined our lives, he also killed me-"

"Well, at least he didn't break my heart into a million pieces." Holly interrupted sharply. "Yes, Elena I know that Klaus has done terrible things, but I'm not saying that I'm in love with him, but even if I was can you blame me? You slept with Damon even though you knew that I still had feelings for him and I had to hear it from Rebekah. So no, I don't feel guilty for having feelings for Klaus and if you should be apologizing to anyone, it should be Stefan."

* * *

Elena was sitting down on her front porch as she dialed Damon's number. Damon and Matt were currently in their family cabin in the woods trying to train Jeremy as a hunter. Damon picked up on the first ring. "Hope your day is going better than mine."

Elena took a deep breath. "Stefan knows about us and Holly."

Damon didn't speak for a long time. "How did they take it?"

"Not well," Elena admitted. "But they have a right to be upset, Holly admitted that she might feel something for Klaus, so hopefully she won't be heartbroken for long."

Damon bit his lip. "Let's drink to that."

"How's Jeremy doing?"

"That depends do you trust me?"

Elena rolled her eyes. "You know I do."

Damon chuckled. "Then he's going to get through this just fine." There was an awkward pause. "I have to go."

"No, wait," Elena interrupted. "Something happened today, I realized something about you, about my feelings for you. And you can say it's the sire bond, maybe it is. But I'm telling you it's the most real thing I felt my entire life. Damon, I love you."

Damon gulped. "Look, I'm going to get this cure for you and I'm going to do things that you're not going to like. Listen carefully get in your car right now, come to me."

Elena nodded. "I'll be there soon."

* * *

Caroline walked into her living room and saw Holly packing up the few belongings that she had brought in a duffel bag, it was obvious that she had been crying because her eyes were red and puffy.

Caroline took a step forward. "Are you going back home?"

She shook her head.

"To the Salvatore house?"

She shook her head. "Then where are you going?"

Holly's voice cracked. "I don't know. I just think that I need to take a long trip."

-End of Chapter Thirty Three-


	34. Conflicting Feelings

**Chapter Thirty Four: Conflicting Feelings**

Holly could believe that she was here again after almost a year. She was in Milesia, the town that she had first escaped to when Damon had also made her angry and where she had meet Klaus. All though after days of being trapped in a hotel room, she no longer feet angry. She just felt sad and hurt.

Hurt because she wasn't expecting Damon and Elena's betrayal and sad because Elena was right in a way, she and Damon had long since broken up and there were free to date whoever they wanted. But still Holly needed answers.

She opened the door of the store and wrinkled her nose at the smell. A small woman wearing the same purple turban stopped short. "Welcome, oh you again-"

Holly offered her a small smile. "Pam Andrews? Ms. Andrews do you remember me, I know it's been a while. I'm Holly Gilbert."

Pam nodded. "I never forget a face. Did you come for another palm reading?"

Holly shrugged. "Sort of. . . I want answers. Last time you told me that I would have two great loves, but that only one of them would be my true love. Can you elaborate on that?"

Pam nodded as she motioned for her to come forward. "Sit down." She traced her fingers along Holly's palm. "You have gone through a lot in the past year and yet you have managed to face every adversity that has come through you. You've changed, you're no longer quick to judge, you try to understand the person beneath the mask and that has caused you problems with your family and friends." Her face darkened. "Though I'm afraid Miss Gilbert that your suffering is not over yet and you must face an ever greater test."

Holly arched an eyebrow. "Like what?"

Pam shook her head. "I'm not a liberty to say, but it will happen soon."

Holly shook her head impatiently. "All right then what about the two loves part."

Pam nodded. "You care for those two men very deeply and you have tried to understand them, they both have caused you joy and pain." she raised her head. "But I think both of us really know how you truly feel. You only really truly love one of them."

* * *

"All packed." Damon said to himself since there was no one there, he looked back towards the rest of the The Cure Party that were getting their stuff ready to hunt for the cure. He sighed. He should be happy, but honestly he was miserable. Caroline had told him rather coldly that Holly had left for a mini vacation, and she wasn't sure when she would be back.

Damon glanced toward the doorway and saw Elena laughing. He should be happy, he got Elena now and Holly could be happy with Klaus. Katherine. Holly. Elena. They all wore the same face, but they were all so different.

Elena. The only reason that Elena was in love with him was because of the sire bond, and whatever feelings that she had for Damon grew after she had turned. But what about him? What about Damon?

It was true, he and Elena had gotten close during the summer and when Elena had been in transition, but had they gotten close because he loved her or because he felt guilty that it was his reason that Holly and Stefan had given themselves to Klaus and because his blood made Elena into a vampire? He honestly didn't know.

He sighed. Holly. He wondered where she was and knowing her she was probably fuming. He felt guilty for hurting her. He knew he had been an ass. He knew that he hurt her repeatedly. And he knew that she had never wanted to break off with him and that he had let his jealousy get in the way.

Damon could have apologized to Holly. They could have tried again and tried and made things right.

He wondered if Holly would ever forgive him this time or if he would ever learn to forget her.

-End of Chapter Thirty Four-


	35. Down the Rabbit Hole

**Chapter Thirty Five: Down the Rabbit Hole**

Holly paused in front of her house, after days of hiding out she once again felt calm enough to return home and she couldn't hide forever. She pushed the door open and was just halfway through the living room when she jumped. "Klaus! What the hell are you doing here?"

Klaus stared at her amused. "Nice of you again to appear, love. While you've been on your lovely vacation I've been stuck in your living room while the rest of your friends went for the cure."

She frowned. "Why would they trap you in our living room?"

Klaus shrugged. "Probably because if they didn't I would get my revenge on them for killing my homicidal brother Kol." He studied Holly's face. "You had no idea what they were planning did you?"

Holly shook her head. "No, I didn't I'm sorry."

Klaus nodded, he seemed to believe her. "Ah, no matter." The double doors opened and Tyler and Caroline came into the room. "Well, if it isn't little orphan Lockwood."

"Holly, you're back." Tyler gave her a quick nod while Caroline hugged her tightly. Holly sense that this was an apology hug and hugged her right back. "I found this in your attic," Tyler said as he pulled out the sword. "And I was playing with the handle and I saw this." He turned the sword slightly revealing some sort of code.

"Its call a Cryptex," Holly blurted out. "The symbols translate to something."

Caroline pulled out her bag and grabbed a bunch of pictures of Jeremy's tattoo. "And Elena send over these, now all we need to do is crack the code." Caroline watched as Holly flinched slightly at the mention of Elena's name. "You can help if you want too."

Klaus smirked at her suggestion. "I doubt the aramic-english dictionary on the Internet is going to be much help."

Caroline gaped at him. "Aramaic, that's practically a dead language it hasn't been used since biblical times."

"Quetsiyah's native tongue I'm guessing, it could take days to translate." He said a few other words that neither of them could understand.

Holly and Caroline exchanged looked. "What did you just say?"

"If only you spoke Aramaic"

* * *

"No, Holly you're doing it wrong!"

"Caroline, I hate to break it to you, but at this point I doubt that there is a right way."

Klaus peeked over towards the sword while Caroline and Holly continued arguing over the translation. "Requires a powerful witch and a hunter in full bloom."

Tyler eyed him. "What are you doing?"

Klaus gave him a cold look. "I don't need to tell you my reasons, Holly bring the sword over here."

Holly stood up and handed him the sword so that he could read it. "Silas rests at the far side. Stop, move it." Holly did as she was told. "The top of the hill reveals the key to a nautical map. Wait there's something else." Klaus spoke something in Aramaic.

"Klaus, what does it mean?" Holly demanded.

Klaus smirked at her. "There's only one dose."

* * *

It seemed to Holly that days has passed when in fact it had only been hours. She had heard from Caroline that Klaus was prepared to kill Tyler for turning his hybrids against him and Holly was tired of suffering and tired of seeing her friends suffer. "You can't kill Tyler." She said softly. "Klaus, please I know there is some good in you revenge isn't everything you got even when you killed Carol, now allow him to be happy."

Klaus turned sharply towards her. "So he gets to live a happy life after he turned my hybrids against me and made it his life's mission to find the cure and used it on me?"

"We all want the cure." Holly said defensively.

Klaus arched an eyebrow. "Do you?" he continued. "I know there's only one, but if there were more would you take it Holly? No, you wouldn't, you like being strong, have multiple lives, be the person that you couldn't be as a human. You and I are the same."

Holly nodded. "Maybe we are, but I also know how to forgive . . . even when the people I care so much about hurt me. So forgive Tyler, please."

"All right," Klaus said after a moment. "Tell Tyler he's free to leave, tell him I'll give him a head start before I kill him."

If Holly was surprise by this, she didn't show it. Instead she just shook her head and left him alone.

* * *

Elena was walking through the caves looking for Silas, but it was so cold that she couldn't see anything. Where was everyone? "Elena." She heard a familiar voice say.

Elena turned around and growled when she saw her doppelganger. "No!"

Katherine smirked at her as she pounced towards Elena, jabbing her hand inside her chest. Elena's eyes watered as she looked down and they went completely blank as Katherine pulled her heart out. Katherine let her heart fall to the ground. "Opps."

* * *

Jeremy glanced at Katherine who he thought was Elena and then back to a bleeding Bonnie. "Elena is here, you're going to be ok." He turned to her. "You need to help Bonnie, feed her your blood. The hunter stabbed her."

Katherine held back an exasperated sigh. "Jeremy, the cure is right there. After everything we've been though it's right there."

Jeremy looked annoyed. "And it will be there after we help Bonnie."

"God, I forgot what a brat you were. I'm done playing nice!" Katherine grabbed Jeremy by the arm and bit his wrist and pressed the bleeding wrist over the stone's figure mouth.

"Katherine." Jeremy squeaked.

Katherine laughed. "It's been too long little Gilbert." The stone figured began to move. "Sorry family reunion it's going to be cut short." She bit his neck and pressed it over the stone figure's mouth while retrieving a small box.

The stone figure grabbed Jeremy's neck and snapped it with one quick swipe as Jeremy fell dead.

* * *

Caroline and Tyler had left so that they could spend their last moments together and Holly was sitting alone on the porch when Klaus stepped outside. "How did you even get out?"

"I feel that something might have happened to your friend Bonnie," Klaus said simply. "Don't worry love, I'm not angry at you."

"You have no reason to be," Holly said, "I guess I'm just angry at myself, I've made a lot of mistakes and I want to correct them."

Klaus nodded. "I've showed kindness, forgiveness, pity for you Holly. You are unware of how much I want you to be happy and I hope you see it soon."

Holly watched as Klaus left when her cell phone started buzzing. She picked it up. "Hello?"

"Holly." It was Stefan, but why did he sound like he was crying?

"Stefan, hi, I'm back home." Holly said. "Is everything all right? You sound upset."

Stefan gave a harsh laugh. "No the cure is gone, Katherine fooled us, she took it from right under our noses, but there's something else that you need to know."

"What?" her heartbeat was quickening and she felt like she could barely breathe. "What do I need to know Stefan?"

"Katherine killed Jeremy and Elena. They are both dead."

-End of Chapter Thirty Five-

Thanks for your reviews!


	36. Stand By Me

**Chapter Thirty Six: Stand By Me**

"Holly, you're shaking." Caroline said as she clutched Holly's arm that was trembling. "Are you sure that you don't want me to get your coat?"

"No," Holly said sharply. Her eyes were red from crying, not to mention that the guilt inside her chest seemed to be growing. Jeremy and Elena were both dead. Her only siblings were dead. She couldn't remember the last time she had talk to Jeremy and she had said such horrible things to Elena last time and now they were dead. "Where are they?"

"They will be here soon." Caroline told her.

The doors opened and Stefan came towards the room holding Jeremy, his eyes were red and he looked pale and trembly. Holly rushed towards her brother and relaxed slightly when she saw his ring. Maybe he would wake up again. "Did he die with the ring?"

Stefan nodded and Holly relaxed a little. "Get him upstairs, maybe he'll wake up soon. What about Elena, what about her body?"

Stefan lowered his eyes. "I hope you don't mind, but I buried her near here, in a field of flowers so that she could find peace. I couldn't see her body like that anymore and you wouldn't want to remember her like that."

Holly nodded, her throat felt tight. "Let's get him upstairs." Stefan laid Jeremy on his bed and Holly brushed back his hair and stayed at his bedside.

"Do you need anything?" Stefan asked.

"No, I'm just going to stay with him until he wakes up," Holly said. "Call me if you hear anything about Bonnie all right and thank you Stefan for bringing them back."

Stefan nodded as he walked downstairs and head towards the kitchen where Caroline was waiting. "She does know that Jeremy is not going to wake up doesn't she? He was a hunter, the ring won't work and she can't live in denial forever."

"I know that." Stefan said. "But I don't want to be the one to break her out of it. She already feels bad enough, I think we just need to wait a while, at least until we hear from Bonnie and Damon."

"I'm not in denial," Holly said sharply as she walked into the kitchen. "But his tattoo is gone, which means he's not a hunter, so maybe he's back to being a regular human and the ring will work."

"Holly-"

"Please Caroline," Holly said desperately. "It's the only hope I have left, Elena is dead, my parents are dead, and Jenna is far away. I can't lose everyone. I can't."

* * *

Holly's eyes went towards Elena's journals and then towards Jeremy's drawing pads. She closed her eyes trying to prevent the tears from falling, she couldn't do anything now. Elena was deed, but Jeremy, Jeremy still had a chance and he would be alive. Holly will make sure of it.

There was a knock on the door and Holly turned around and saw Meredith. "Holly? I want to check on Jeremy is that ok?"

Holly nodded as she stood up. "Sure." She watched as Meredith started checking Jeremy's blood pressure. "You're not going to find any vitals, it's the same thing that Ric used to go through. It takes them a while to come back to life, I just hope he doesn't go crazy like Ric did. I already lost Elena, I can't lose him too-"Holly knew that she was blabbering, but she couldn't stop.

Meredith turned to Stefan who was by the doorway and said gently. "Holly, it looks like Jeremy died from extreme blood lost, the muscles in his body have tightened. If he's left unattended he'll start to bloat and his skin will discolor-"

"No," Holly shook her head impatiently. "You're lying, you don't know anything he will come back to life. I know he will."

"I need you to release the body to me. Well get him to a funeral home, prepare him for a viewing where everyone can say goodbye."

Holly shook her head, the anger seem to want to explode from her, but what she most wanted was for Meredith to stop talking. She pushed Meredith against the wall. "He's not dead! My brother isn't dead! Someone can fix it-I need Bonnie. Where's Bonnie? Holly knew that she was talking like a crazy person, but she didn't care.

Stefan pulled her back. "Holly, control yourself."

Holly was about to snap at him when Matt entered the room, he took one look at Jeremy and he looked crestfallen. Holly walked toward him and hugged him tightly and Matt began to cry. "It's going to be ok, Matt. You haven't lost your buddy, we couldn't save Elena, but we can save Jeremy. I promise we will save Jeremy, he will be ok."

* * *

"Holly?" Holly looked up from her bed where she had been dozing off, she couldn't remember the last time she had slept. She looked at Stefan, he looked tired too and she couldn't imagine how he must have felt losing Elena. "I got a call from Damon, he found Bonnie a plane is waiting for them. They're going to be here in a few hours . . . I don't want to give you false hope, but maybe there's something we can do."

For the first time a smile appeared on her face. "There will be something, I know there will."

* * *

An hour later Caroline, Holly, Matt, and Bonnie were sitting down in the dining room table, the aura was dim and Holly could feel herself getting more and more depressed even as Bonnie was talking about what Shane told her back at the Island.

"It's called the Expression Triangle," Bonnie explained. "I need to complete it for Silas."

Matt stared at her in disbelief. "Bonnie, you can't kill 12 people."

Bonnie bit her lip. "I know it sounds crazy, but it's the only way to get enough power."

"To do what?" Caroline interrupted.

"So that I can drop the veil and the Other Side doesn't exist anymore." Bonnie said impatiently. "There's nothing separating us, we're all just one."

"Bonnie, you're talking like a crazy person, you can't kill 12 people!" Caroline shouted.

"I can do it!" Bonnie insisted. "I have the power, we can bring everyone back, Alaric, Vicki, Elena, Jeremy-"

Holly stared ahead in complete silence, the voices were becoming louder, they were screaming. Why couldn't they shut up? Why wouldn't they stop arguing? Stop talking, please stop-Her thoughts were interrupted by a ringing phone. "I'll get it," she went numbly towards the phone. "Hello."

"Miss Holly Gilbert?"

"Yes?"

"I'm very sorry to be the one to call you to deliver this news, I'm calling from Mercy Hospital in Orlando, Florida about your Aunt Jenna Sommers." Jenna, her aunt that she had compelled to leave, so that she wouldn't be affected by the supernatural disasters. "I regret to inform you that your aunt was involved in a serious car accident and was killed on impact. We need someone to come inspect the body . . . Miss Gilbert."

Holly didn't bother answering, she just hung up the receiver. All those deals with Klaus, she had compelled Jenna to move away so that she wouldn't be affected by the supernatural and she had been killed in a stupid, normal car crash. Her last living relative dead.

"Holly?" Matt looked up wearily. "Are you ok? Who was it?"

"A man- a doctor I think." Holly said somberly. "Aunt Jenna is dead." Without bothering to elaborate she went upstairs to Jeremy's room. She removed the covers and wrinkled her nose. He smelled. He smelled like a dead person.

Holly jumped back barely realizing that Damon had entered the room. "Holly." He said softly.

Holly turned to him, the tears streaming down her face. "Damon, he's dead." Her voice started trembling. "He's dead, he's really dead!"

"Hey," Damon grasped her by her shoulders. "Talk to me, I can help you."

Holly pulled away sharply. "How are you going to help me?" she snapped. "Take him downstairs, now!"

Without waiting for a reply she went downstairs and found only Caroline and Stefan. "Where's Bonnie?"

"Matt took her home," Stefan frowned, noticing that Holly had a crazy look on her face. "Holly-"

Holly ignored him as she went towards the kitchen and the three of them exchanged glances as Damon put Jeremy on the coach. Holly grabbed a bottle of lighter fluid and started spreading it around the kitchen and cabinets.

Caroline looked at her astonished. "Holly, what are you doing?"

"We need a cover story," she didn't bother looking up and she continued spreading it. "This is the best one, we burn the house down and say that both Elena and Jeremy burned to death in a house fire at least that will continue with the family history of family tragedies."

"Holly, stop it!" Stefan shouted.

"Why should I? So I can go on living in denial?" Holly demanded. "I'm facing the truth, I don't want to live here anymore Stefan, and I hate my life. I don't want to live in this house all by myself thinking of all the people that used to live here. I don't want to see these sketches or those stupid diaries. I don't need this bourbon." She pulled out a bottle. "And call me selfish, but I'm not willing to bring back every supernataul villain we've ever killed." She took the Gilbert ring from Jeremey's finger.

"Stop it Holly, you're scaring me!" Caroline shouted.

Holly started slamming down picture frames. "What else am I supposed to do, Caroline? We don't have any room in the Gilbert family plot." She picked up a box of matches and lit one up. "There's nothing here for me, my parents are dead, Jenna is dead, Isobel and John are dead, Elena and Jeremy are dead, I have no one, I'm all alone-I'm all alone."

Damon grabbed her firmly by the shoulder. "Holly, I need you to calm down."

Holly shook her head, the tears spilling out of her eyes. "I can't Damon, it hurts too much, I can't, please make the pain stop, please I don't think I can handle it anymore."

"Turn it off," Damon said firmly.

"What-no-"Stefan protested.

"Turn it off." Damon repeated again. "That way you won't feel pain anymore, turn it off."

The tears stopped spilling from Holly's face and she looked up at him, and all the anguish seemed to have disappeared.

* * *

"It was a mistake," Stefan hissed to Damon.

Damon shook his head. "No, it wasn't. It was the only way that she was going to survive this. We'll keep an eye on her, Holly is strong, and in a few weeks she will be herself again."

"Her humanity Damon, that was the only thing she had left," Stefan said. "She had you."

Damon shook his head. "I screwed up things too badly with her, I only caused her more pain." He looked up when he saw Holly renter the room this time with a lit match. "Holly, you don't have to do this."

"I want to do this." Holly replied back.

Stefan frowned. "If you do this it's gone forever, what if one day you want to come home."

"This is no longer my home." Holly said as she let the match fall on the ground as the entire house began burning.

-End of Chapter Thirty Six-


	37. Bring It On

**Chapter Thirty Seven: Bring ****It On**

Holly was standing on the main road, her feet firmly pressed together like a solider waiting for orders. She cocked her head to the side when she saw a car stopping with a halt in the middle of the road.

A college student got out of the car and slammed the door shut. "What the hell you crazy bitch! Move out of the way!"

Holly didn't move.

"Didn't you hear me?"

"I heard you," Holly's fangs started peeking out and she grabbed the man by the shoulders and sunk her fangs on his neck and started draining him of blood, ignoring his screams.

* * *

Damon frowned as he entered his room and saw that bloody clothes were thrown all over his bedroom floor. He followed the trail and stopped short when the trail leaded towards the bathroom.

He stopped short when he saw Holly getting out of the shower completely naked, usually she would blush, but right now she didn't look like she gave a damn about who saw her naked.

"I hope you don't mind," Holly said. "I needed to get the blood off me."

"You went to feed on humans?" Damon asked impressed. "You hate that stuff."

Holly smirked. "I had a change of heart." She looked around. "I didn't leave any spare clothes here did I? I would hate to walk around naked." She pulled out one of Damon's shirts and gave him a flirtatious smile. "Though something tells me you wouldn't mind."

* * *

"So that's the plan?" Damon wrinkled his nose as he stared at Stefan who looked even worse than Holly. "Take her to school, do you think that's going to solve everything?"

"Do you think I want to play chaperone, honestly I rather get far away from here." Stefan said exasperated. "Besides you need to look for Katherine and get the cure, Holly won't turn her emotions on willingly. If worse comes to worse, we give her the cure and she's human again."

"No that anyone asked me, but I think taking her back to school is a great idea." Caroline said as she walked in wearing a pink bathrobe. "By the way you fancy water filters means that you have the only vervain free showers in town."

Damon nodded. "Oh, yeah the new mayor put vervain in the water supply. So many people to kill."

"And my mom says it's about to get worst, so she could use a little help."

"Fine, I'll go after the psychotic doppelganger, Stefan you'll talk to the sheriff?" Damon prompted. "Blondie, take her to school."

"I hate to break it to you, but I can make my own decisions," Holly stepped out wearing a pair of tight jeans and clingy blue top. "But since I have nothing to do might as well."

"Holly, it would make all of us happy if you went to school today and studied hard," Damon smiled. "But please don't eat anyone."

* * *

Holly's brown eyes went towards the school bulletin board, the school had already planned a memorial for Elena and Jeremy, but Holly didn't care, instead her eyes traveled to the cheerleading completion poster. A free dinner. Yummy.

She turned towards Caroline, waving the poster in the air. "Can you get me my old spot back at the cheerleading squad?"

Caroline looked surprised at her enthusiasm. "Well, yes, I'm Captain, but I thought you hated cheerleading."

Holly gave her a fake smile. "Well, I decided to get involved. Something tells me that this will be the event to remember."

* * *

"The uniform still fits!" Caroline smiled brightly after school as Holly came towards her twilling in her cheerleading uniform. "You look amazing and you managed to memorize the routines for once in your life."

Holly fought back an eye roll. "Well, you're an excellent teacher." She really needed to get away from Caroline, she was starving. "I'll be right back, I left my ribbons on the bus."

Before Caroline could answer, Holly tuned back towards the direction of the busses away from the crowds. A slow smile appeared on her face as she saw a girl texting alone by the bus. Perfect.

Holly slammed the girl against the bus and before she could even scream, Holly snapped her neck. She hated when they started moving around when she was feeding on them. She felt someone push her back. Stefan. "What are you doing?"

Holly shrugged as she let the body fall to the floor. "I was hungry."

Stefan narrowed his eyes. "No, you're being reckless." He tried to take in a deep breath. "Holly, I know what you're going through, believe me. But I know you, you're stronger than this. This is not you."

"You know what I'm getting really tired of people being so sure that they know the kind of person I really am." Holly snapped back. "I was nice before and guess what people stomped all over me, not this time I know what I'm doing." Before Stefan could continue, she vamp flash out of there.

* * *

Holly entered Klaus house without knocking, she blinked once when she saw Tyler's friend, the one who had betrayed them drinking a glass of whisky. "What the hell are you doing here?" Hayley demanded.

Holly wrinkled her nose. "The whole place stink of wolf disgusting."

Hayley took a step forward. "You want to say that again, baby vamp?"

Holly smirked. "You heard me."

"Holly." Klaus entered the room. "I wasn't expecting you." Klaus had heard from Caroline that Holly had turned off her emotion when Katerina had killed both of her siblings and Klaus couldn't help but admire the difference. She looked confident. Sexy.

Holly shrugged. "I decided to come visit you, alone."

Klaus smiled pleasantly as he turned to Hayley. "Leave, love, I have more important manners to attend too."

Hayley gave a small huff as she left, Klaus turned towards her. "Now what can I help you with, love."

Holly used her vampire speed to pressed Klaus against the wall as she started kissing him while at the same time unbuttoning his shirt. "I've been wanting to do this for a long time."

* * *

A few hours later Holly and Klaus were laying down on Klaus bed and Holly was starting to slowly put back her clothes. Klaus looked at her curiously. "You don't have to leave you know, you can stay here. Have your own rooms, or we can leave this dingy little town and go to Paris."

"Klaus-"Holly interrupted laughing cruelly. "Don't take this the wrong way or whatever, but this was just a one night deal, it's just sex for me. So whatever feelings of post marital bliss that you have going on in your head, deleted them because this meant nothing to me, you mean nothing to me."

Klaus' jaw tightened. "I think you better go."

Holly rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me I hurt your feelings."

"Go Holly, before I regret it."

Holly huffed. "I didn't realize you were so sensitive."

* * *

"There you are, where have you've been?" Damon asked once Holly stepped inside the Salvatore house after Klaus had kicked her out. "Stefan and Caroline were freaking out."

Holly shrugged as she dropped her jacket on the floor. "I slept with Klaus." She saw Damon frowning and his lip slightly twitching. She rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on Damon don't look so hurt, you slept with my twin. Well, dead twin, but hey no hard feelings right?"

"Right." Damon said icily. "How would you feel about going on a trip?"

Holly raised an eyebrow. "What kind of trip?"

"Somewhere every baby vampire should go-New York."

-End of Chapter Thirty Seven-


	38. Because of the Night

**Chapter Thirty Eight: Because of the Night**

Holly looked around the people and tall buildings all around her. She had never been to a place as big as New York, though she had a good feeling about it. She was a vampire, she no longer had to stay in boring, little Mystic Falls. She could go everywhere she wanted to be Paris, New York, Milan.

"So why did you really bring me here?" Holly asked Damon as they walked through the streets. "I doubt that it was because you wanted to give me a tour."

No," Damon snorted. "I dragged you to New York because in a matter of 3 days you managed to piss off everyone in Mystic Falls."

Holly shrugged. "They're too sensitive."

"Or, you're too heartless."

Holly laughed. "You have the nerve to call me, heartless?"

Damon shrugged. "Faint point. Fact is, New York City is a city of millions and it's not as easy to piss people off, you can have your pick and no one will notice that a few measly tourist were missing. So how about lunch?"

Holly smiled. "Later, I'm going to the salon, I need a new look to go with my new attitude." An hour later Holly reappeared with Damon, her chocolate brown hair was wavier than before and the tips of her hair were colored a dark blond. "You like?"

"Blond, at least the tips." Damon's lip curled. "It suits you."

* * *

"This is your idea of fun," Holly wrinkled her nose as they entered a barely lit bar called Billy's. "There's no one here and it smells!"

"Would you mind saying that a little louder? Besides you just devour two lawyers you can't be that hungry." Damon snapped back. "Besides when night comes this place will be crawling with people, trust me I spent most of the seventies here."

"Alone?" Holly arched an eyebrow.

Damon shook his head. "No, with Lexi. Little brother send me his sober sponsor."

"You got Lexie?"

Before Damon could respond Rebekah vamp flash behind him and slammed his head against the table.

"Following a lead without me?" Rebekah scowled. "Poor form, Damon. I have to say I'm a little hurt, Damon I thought we made a good team."

"Wait!" Holly growled. "What are you talking about?"

Rebekah turned to him. "Damon is following a lead to the cure and I'm following him. Notice that your name never came up."

"I brought Holly here to feed," Damon lied weakly.

Rebekah shook her head. "So you drove 7 hours to New York to just feed?"

Damon turned back towards Holly who still looked suspicious. "Anyway, this was an important time for me, because it was when I had my humanity off." He started telling them about the time that he and Lexi had spent together.

Rebekah wrinkled her nose. "She sounds dreadful."

Holly rolled her eyes. "So let me guess, you saw the light with Lexi and you're convinced that a few bad nights in New York will turn me into good little Holly again, don't be a fool, Damon."

Damon rolled his eyes, clearly frustrated. "You're impossible, I'm going to buy a drink. Many drinks."

Once Damon had left towards the bar, Rebekah turned to Holly. "You don't believe any of this, do you?"

"Of course not," Holly shook her head, "I knew that he was after the cure, but him actually shoving it down my throat is a surprise, but I'm not stupid and I rather die than be a witch again."

"You have something up your sleeve?"

"I have many something's, I just need to decided how I want to play with Damon first."

* * *

The afternoon quickly turned to evening and Holly was surprise that Damon was actually right, the bar was filled with people. "I'm hungry." She complained.

Damon motioned towards the crowd. "Have your pick."

Holly smiled as she started dancing towards the crowd, she stopped in front of a girl. "Don't scream." She compelled her as she took a bite from her neck. She grinned at Damon as he joined her on the other side

"Your turn." Damon motioned to Rebekah as he joined Holly and left towards another room. Holly narrowed her eyes suspiciously. He was up to something.

"Leave." Holly told the girl as Rebekah followed her back to the bar. "Damon is up to something I know it. Hopefully, is something that leads to the cure and I can slip it from under his very nose."

Rebekah frowned. "How are you going to do that? He's stronger and faster than you. You want the cure gone and I can help you. I want to take it."

"You hate me."

She shrugged. "I hated the whiny, goody two shoes version of you, but this one is not so bad. Besides with the cure, I'll be human again and I'll have a family of my own."

Holly rolled her eyes as she took a shot. "Save me the melodramatics, on second thought I don't want you to help me, you're too emotional and I don't want someone like that on my team."

Rebekah stared at her. "You just made me miss the old Holly."

"Ouch. Rejected." Damon winced as he joined Holly at the bar.

"Like I care." Holly said. "Where have you've been."

"Around." Damon lied swiftly. "This bar sure brings back memories. Lexi and I spend a lot of time together here."

"Did you sleep with her?"

"Why are you jealous?"

"No, that would imply emotions and I'm over you." She grabbed a bottle of bourbon. "Come on, let's go to the roof. I need you to tell me the rest of the story."

* * *

"This place is beautiful," Holly said as she and Damon stepped on the roof. "I wouldn't mind if we did the Lexi technique, party all night and sleep all day. Maybe then I would be willing to turn on my emotions."

Damon smirked. "I thought you hated emotions."

"Maybe it's just an act," Holly murmured as she started fondling his chest. "Maybe it's just an act that I'm over you when I really not." Holly started kissing him, her hand slowly trying to look for anything about Katherine's whereabouts.

Damon snatched her hand as he pulled out a piece of paper. "Looking for this, who do you think I am? Holly, you're beautiful, but you need to work on your seduction." He took a swing of bourbon.

Holly looked at him amused. "Aw, I hurt your feelings."

Damon snorted. "Not my feelings." He stared at her. "I'm looking out for you, because one day you will turn that switch back on and all those bad things that you did will come rushing back and it's going to suck. I want to cure you, I want the old lovable Holly back."

"I'm not taking the cure Damon!" Holly snapped back angrily. "The old Holly is dead!"

Damon pressed her against the wall. "Yes, you are even if I have to tie you up and force feed it to you."

Rebekah came behind Damon and snapped his neck. She cocked her head. "Looks, like you do need my help after all."

* * *

Damon woke up groggily when he heard his cell phone ringing, it was morning already. He picked it up. "Morning, Damon." Holly answered cheerfully.

"Holly." Damon answered sharply. "Where are you?"

Holly opened the piece of paper that she gotten from Damon. "I think the better question would be where are we going."

"Sorry, Damon I think I broke your radio!"

"You're in my car?"

Holly smirked at she turned on the car. "You should have listen to me Damon, we'll give Katherine your best. Kisses!"

-End of Chapter Thirty Eight-


	39. American Gothic

**Chapter Thirty Nine: American Gothic**

Holly slammed the breaks on Damon's car as she parked irritably in a small town in Pennsylvania. Rebekah got out of the car, scowling. "Why are we stopping?"

"I'm sick of driving." Holly said. "Besides I need new clothes, preferably silk and perhaps champagne."

"And that's my fault? You were the one that stole the list of Katherine's possible whereabouts, did you ever think that Damon might have bad information?"

Holly rolled her eyes. "Don't you ever shut up?" her eyes stopped in front of a young, red head woman. "You're in luck, I just found us lunch."

She went toward the woman as she was shutting her car door. "Oh, your startled me."

"Did I?" Holly's fangs were just beginning to peek out.

The woman looked back startled. "Katherine, what are you doing?"

Holly pulled back. "You know me?"

The woman nodded. "Of course, I know most of the people around here preferred that you feed from their necks, but I asked you to feed from my wrist."

Rebekah laughed. "Convincing little bitch compelled the whole town."

Holly smiled. "I think we just found Katherine."

* * *

"What's my full name?" Holly prompted to the woman.

"Katherine Pierce." The woman responded. "Love the new do by the way."

"How do you know Katherine?" Rebekah asked.

The woman looked confused. "How do I know who?"

"Me," Holly said. "How do you me."

"Small town, everyone knows everyone."

Rebekah said again. "So everyone here knows Katherine."

The woman looked back at her. "I'm sorry I don't know who you're talking about."

"How long have we've known each other?" Holly prompted. "Where do I live? Where do I work? Do I have any friends?"

"Well, you all said that we could be friends with you as long as we kept your secret."

Holly frowned. "What secret?"

She looked confused. "I don't know."

* * *

Damon and Stefan got out of Stefan's car in the middle of the road carrying a tank filled with gas. "If they so much as scratch the paint in my car-"

"Just be grateful that Sheriff Forbes found it after they ditched it when they run out of gas," Stefan said. "You got to fill it up, we have a hundred miles before we go to Willoughby."

"Yeah, well I don't remember that name from the list."

Stefan looked at him amused. "Oh, you mean the list they stole from you from under our noses? Just be grateful that Liz managed to track them down. They are in the cream corn capital of Pennsylvania, let's just hope we get there before Rebekah gets the cure."

Damon smiled. "Oh the plus side if Rebekah gets the cure we can just kill her right there."

Stefan rolled his eyes. "Yes, and then Holly remains a vampire with her humanity off, so let's get one thing straight find Katherine, get the cure, and get out."

Damon nodded. "Believe me I learned my lesson, Holly with humanity is a stone cold bitch and I don't trust her until we get the old Holly back."

* * *

Rebekah and Holly arrived at the post office, the one place where Katherine might have been seen. She cleared her throat and said in a bright cheery voice to the post man. "Did I get any mail today?"

The man frowned at her. "What happened to you hair?"

Holly looked at him coolly. "I cut it."

"In the last 2 minutes? Are you all right Miss Pierce?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Holly forced a smile as she whispered to Rebekah. She was here two minutes ago which means that she can't be far, you look inside I'll look over here at the parking lot."

Rebekah nodded as they each went their separate ways. Holly started walking and looking at each person that was getting out of each car carefully. She suddenly felt herself being pressed to the hood of a truck with hands around her neck. Katherine.

"I'm impressed." Katherine said choking her. "I never thought you would find me here. Well, it's a beautiful place to die."

Rebekah pushed Katherine off Holly. "You're right, you've chosen a beautiful place to die."

Katherine glared back at them.

* * *

"Where's the cure?" Holly asked Katherine. Rebekah, Katherine, and Holly were sitting in a booth in a small diner trying to get some answers from Katherine.

Katherine scoffed. "What no? I'm here to avenge my annoying sibling's speech?"

Holly shrugged as she took a sip of her coffee. "Actually you did me a favor, it's nice not worrying about anyone else."

Katherine narrowed her eyes as she cocked her head. "After turning off our humanity switch, so sad for the boys thought their precious, little Holly Gilbert gone."

Holly rolled her eyes. "Shut up, just tell us where the cure is and we might let you go alive."

Rebekah grasped Katherine's chin. "Where's the cure?"

"Sorry, I'm on vervain."

"We get to torture it out of you then, fun."

"Why do you two want it anyway?" Katherine demanded.

Rebekah raised an eyebrow. "The question is why don't you want it? Let me guess to kill Niklaus?"

"I spent 500 years running from your big brother, I have no intention of being within sniffing distance from him, but since it can be used on him, I'm sure he wants it. I give him the cure, he gives me my freedom."

"Oh, you poor victim," Holly said sarcastically. "So who are you planning to kill next to get what you want? Me?"

Katherine blinked at her. "I have no reason to kill you, Holly but don't temp me. People change, I'm not the girl you think I am."

Rebekah used her vamp speed to check though Katherine's pockets until she pulled out her phone.

"I don't have it on me!"

"I didn't think so, but I'm sure there's something there that can help us find it."

Holly scrolled down the calendar. "Who's EM? It says here you're meeting at two." Katherine refused to answer. "Guess, I'm going to have to meet EM myself."

* * *

Ten minutes later Holly exited the diner bathroom, she had added more eyeliner, darker eye shadow, and red lipstick. She returned to her seat and smirked. "What do you think? Do I looked whorish enough?"

"Hmm, you're close," Rebekah said. "I think you need more eyeliner, I don't think it's slutty enough."

Katherine glared at her and Holly laughed. "Yeah, I'm going to need your clothes, I love your leather pants."

Katherine scoffed. "Like that's going to happen."

"Fine, you're jewelry all of it, watch, earrings, and bracelet hand them over."

Katherine frowned as she started taking off her earrings and watch as Holly started slipping them on. "And you're other bracelet."

"That's my daylight bracelet, I'm going to need it, besides it's not going to work on you."

"Fine," Holly said. "But I'll need that jacket." When Katherine refused to cooperate, Holly grabbed the knife and jabbed it in her wrist.

"Ok, fine." Katherine cried out as she handed her the jacket. "This will never work you know, the innocent smile, cutesy eyes, you'll never pass for me."

"You'll never pass for me." Holly imitated.

"Throatier. More mannish."

"You'll never pass for me."

"You two are pathetic," Katherine growled.

"You two are pathetic."

"Perfect," Rebekah said. "Just the right amount of contempt and hidden insecurity."

Holly fluffed her hair. "Almost there, there's something missing." She looked down and saw the loveliest pair of heels on Katherine. "Nice shoes, mind if I borrow them?"

* * *

It was two o'clock, where was EM? She paced around the gazebo, checking the time. "Come on EM."

"Katerina."

Holly turned around and saw Elijah standing there with his suit smiling at her. Elijah? Elijah and Katherine, what the hell? "Elijah." She tried to recover. "You're little late aren't you?"

Elijah smiled as he patted a soft curl. "You colored your hair, I like it."

"Thank you, I-"Elijah didn't let her finish as he kissed her. His lips were soft on hers as they kissed and Holly relaxed her lips and decided to enjoy the ride.

"I've missed you." He murmured.

"And I've missed you."

Elijah rested his hands on her hips. "This is an interesting little town you decided to settle up in. So do you have it? The cure?"

Holly smirked. So Katherine had the cure. "Yes, I have it, I'll bring it right back."

Elijah grasped her arm. "Where is Katherine, Holly?"

* * *

Elijah and Holly were in a nearby alleyway when his phone rang. "Katerina."

"Hello, Elijah." Stefan answered at the other end.

"Where's Katherine?"

"Where's Holly?"

"Safe, how long she remains safe depends upon you." Elijah said.

"Well, then I guess the same thing goes for Katherine."

Elijah chuckled. "Oh, Katherine can take care of herself against the two of you."

Stefan shook his head. "Oh, you mean the three of us, you sister decided to join team good guys for the time being. She can't come to the phone right now, though I left her with Damon and Katherine."

Elijah gripped his phone. "Do you know how much my sister despises Katherine? I can assure you that she will kill her the moment she ceases to be of use. Listen to me Stefan if anything happens to Katerina, I will descend upon Elena." He hung up.

Holly rolled her eyes. "You're an idiot, Elijah."

Elijah put down his phone. "Excuse me?"

Holly sighed loudly. "You know I actually admired you once for being so smart, but I guess you're just fooling yourself, especially since you've been with Katherine this entire time."

"Well, I suppose I've always had a connecting with Katherine." Elijah cleared his throat. "She contacted me when she found out about the cure, we thought we could be of mutual use to one another."

Holly laughed. "Of mutual use? Oh, come on you're just another little toy she plays around with. She's been lying to you all along and you're too in love to notice."

Elijah turned to her. "She didn't lie to me about her turning you into a vampire by poisoning you. But there's something different about you, you're not like this. You've abandoned your emotions, why?"

Holly shrugged. "My brother and sister are dead, your sweet Katherine killed them." She studied Elijah's shocked face. "You didn't know? Of course you didn't."

"She lied."

"And that surprises you . . . why?"

* * *

Elijah paced slowly around the alleyway while Holly sat down on the stone steps bored out of her mind. "I know what it feels like to lose a brother and I'm sorry about your loss. I only hope that you will be able to return to yourself one day."

Holly stood up. "Just like you think Katherine is still redeemable? She's no longer the sweet, innocent human girl you fell in love with. That girl is dead and she's not coming back."

"I'm not a fool, Holly." Elijah said sharply. "But what kind of man would I be if I didn't try to find my Katerina beneath this Katherine façade?"

Holly rolled her eyes. "All of you are the same, trying to fix things that aren't broken. Everyone else is trying to convince me that the girl I was before my life turned messy is still here."

"Maybe she is." Elijah said. "Maybe turning off your emotions is a way of telling yourself that, that innocent human girl that you were is still in there."

Holly scoffed. "I was never innocent, Elijah. I lost one relative after another, I almost went insane after your mother decided to turn me into a witch to kill the vampire species, and I killed my own friend's sister, way before I was a vampire. There is no good left in me."

Katherine came behind Holly and snapped her neck. "Sorry, I'm late, I got held back."

* * *

"Oh, come on she could use a nap," Katherine told Elijah who was bending over Holly. "It must be exhausting trying to be me."

"You killed Elena and Jeremy Gilbert."

Katherine stopped short. "Yes, Elijah I killed the Gilberts that was probably the first thing she said to you, ironic since she doesn't care about anything."

"Well, I care." Elijah stood up. "Do you honestly feel nothing for this girl? A girl who you killed, you took the last of her family just like yours was taken away from you."

Katherine looked back startled. "Why are you looking at me like I enjoyed it? I was doing what I needed to do to survive-"

"Is that why I am to you?" Elijah demanded. "A means of survival."

"Don't let sweet Holly get to you, she hates me, she wants you to turn against me and convince you that I can't be trusted."

"I asked you a question."

"No," Katherine petted his cheek. "Of course you're not a means of survival, your looked out of me when I had no one, you're given me a second chance when no one will. I love you Elijah . . . you don't believe me."

"I want to." Elijah insisted. "But how can I when you give me every reason to doubt you. I don't know you, I don't think I ever will."

Katherine grabbed his arm. "Wait, you told me that you'd help me make a deal with Klaus. I can't do this without you."

Elijah stared at her for a moment. "Goodbye, Katherine."

* * *

"Sit anywhere you'd like," said Jolene the smiling waitress towards Damon and Stefan once they had arrived at the same diner where they had been just hours before. They had found out from Rebekah that Katherine had surrendered the cure to Elijah, now they only had to stuff it down Holly's throat.

They found Holly sitting in a booth all by herself, staring at her cup of coffee.

"You all right?" Stefan asked her, but Holly didn't respond.

Damon groaned. "What's with the silent treatment, you were the one that asked us to meet you here."

Holly folded her hands together. "You know as well as I that I don't want the cure, I have no desire to be a witch again, so are you going to respect my decision or are we going to have a problem."

"Yeah . . . no." Damon said smirking.

"Holly, this isn't you-"Stefan tried.

"It is now." Holly interrupted. "This is the new stronger me and you're going to have to learn to respect that otherwise there will be consequences."

Jolene came back towards their table holding a mug of coffee. "Let me top that off for you."

Holly smiled at her. "Thank you." She vamp flash towards Jolene and rip off her head in one quick swipe causing blood to spill everyone. "Opps, can you clean that up? Like I said I don't want the cure and if you keep trying to fix me I'll just add to the body count, how many more people do I have to kill? Ten? Twenty? A hundred? It doesn't matter I can do this all day. It's your choice. You boys can find your way home right?"

-End of Chapter Thirty Nine-

_RKamelot-_Holly at that point was sad, desperate, and ridden with guilt that she was ready to do anything to make the pain stop, even listen to Damon when she was emotionally unstable and unable to make the decisions that she would usually make. Hope that clear things up!


	40. Pictures of You

**Chapter Forty: Pictures of You**

Stefan and Damon were throwing a football to each other in the Salvatore living room. "So how long has it been eight, nine days?"

"Eight or nine." Stefan said as he grabbed the ball. "I can't remember."

Damon smiled. "We lost count on the days that Holly Gilbert has murdered anyone, I'd say that progress brother." He paused. "She doesn't want the cure and going to start killing people if she figures out that we're still looking for it. So we need to make her want it."

Stefan raised an eyebrow. "And how are we going to make her want anything?"

Damon scoffed. "So what are we going to do? Pull a Lexi and bombard her with emotions until one of them sticks?"

"Yeah, and if that doesn't work we go to plan B we lock her up and you and I figure out a plan C." Stefan put his hands on his hips. "And then you my friend will be there at her side helping her thought it and I'm going to leave and get ready to start a new life."

Damon hesitated before he asked. "All right how do you want to do this?"

* * *

"You're going to fail," Holly let out a laugh as she and Rebekah walked through the streets. Rebekah had just told her the deal that she had made with Elijah. If she could spend a whole day as a human, then she could have the cure. "You should be locking yourself up, not shopping for prom dresses."

Rebekah scoffed at her. "Why am I even talking to you? You don't have any emotions and last time I checked you were living with me because no one else can stand you, so you don't have to be so rude."

Holly nodded as she opened the door of a nearby shop. "All right then, I'll be your date for the evening. I'll come with you to make sure that you pass Elijah's test and once you drink the cure no one will be able to use it on me. It will be gone for good."

Caroline and Bonnie were standing in the middle of the store, Caroline was wearing a bright raspberry colored dress and her smile faded when she saw Holly and Rebekah. "Hey Bonnie heard you got your mind wiped. Pretty dress, Caroline."

"Thank you." Caroline said trying to be nice. "You and Elena helped me pick it out months ago, when you weren't being a self-centered bitch."

Holly smirked. "On second thought it makes you look like a bloated lollipop." Caroline gasped. "Come on, Rebekah, I'm sure we can look for prettier dresses somewhere else."

* * *

Klaus' attic was creepy, Holly thought as she pulled out a second trunk, but it had so many pretty things. She opened a small box and found a diamond and emerald bracelet and Holly slipped it on her wrist. "I'm keeping this."

Holly felt herself being pressed against the wall. "Who gave you permission to come, love?"

"Rebekah," Holly said as she pulled away. "She mentioned that you might have a few things for me. Tonight's prom and I want to be the prettiest girl there and I know you have something that's valuable."

Klaus raised an eyebrow. "And why would I give you anything when you treated me so coldly last time?"

"I'm sorry about last time," Holly lowered her voice as she patted his cheek. "And I'll make it up to you, I promise. Now how about that dress."

* * *

Holly exited Rebekah's house later that evening feeling rather proud of herself. Klaus had gotten her a long, sapphire colored gown with silver beads around the bust with a matching diamond and earrings set. She frowned when she saw Stefan waiting by the edge of a limo. "I didn't invite you. You're not my babysitter."

Stefan raised an eyebrow. "Really, because last time I checked you've made it a habit to kill anyone that annoys you."

Holly scoffed as she turned around and ran into Damon. Damon smirked. "We're just making sure you hold up your end of the deal. Don't eat the prom queen." He showed her a box that had a wrist corsage made of white roses. "May I?"

"No."

"So stubborn." Damon sighed as he grabbed her wrist and tied the corsage. "Fits like a charm, pretty dress."

"Thank you," Holly said as she got into the limo. "Klaus gave it to me."

* * *

The limo stopped short in front of the venue where they were having their prom, the trees were decorated with twirling lights and there were photographs of the entire senior class. Damon wrinkled his nose. "Where's the disco ball?"

Stefan got out of the limo. "Caroline has been working on this for a while it's a photo-yearbook of the senior class." They stopped in front of a picture of Elena, Holly, and Jeremy. "Is that from you freshman year."

Holly felt a lump in there throat. "Yeah, my mom took it," without a second look back she started walking. "This is stupid, let's go."

* * *

Once inside the crowded ballroom, Holly managed to get away from the brothers. She fumbled with her silver purse, but finally managed to get the small flask that she had smuggled. She was about to take a sip when Damon came from behind and took it from her. "You're underage."

Holly rolled her eyes. "And you don't even belong at a high school prom, honestly it's creepy and pathetic that you have nothing better to do that stalk me."

"Oh, come on lots of girls would want me as their date." Damon smirked at Holly took back the flask.

"Please don't refer to yourself as my date."

"Fine, your boyfriend." Damon said. "Come on Holly, we dated once. I know how you are, I know how you think, and I know that you're still in love with me."

Holly scoffed. "Was that before or after you broke my heart and slept with my sister, not that I care, but if you still think that I have any feelings for you after what you did to me, then maybe you're the one that needs help with your emotions not me."

Holly walked away from Damon, but almost immediately ran into Bonnie and Matt. She forced a smile. "Oh, friend patrol."

"Hey," Bonnie said softly. "I know we haven't really talk since everything, but I just wanted to say that I miss you."

"Yeah," Matt nodded. "And we're here for you, we can help you."

"Help me?" Holly scoffed. "I don't need your help, I've never felt better."

"Hey, you shut it all off because all you could feel were the horrible things happening to you, but you still have friends who love you, Holly." Bonnie said softly.

Holly looked at her. "I thought you were going to bring Jeremy and Elena back, but it turns out that you were just a crazy person that thought that she would be useful, but weren't. You disappointed me and the mere sight of your face annoys me."

Bonnie's face darkened as Holly left. "I need some air."

"Bonnie, wait-"

Bonnie shook her head. "Caroline was right, Holly is gone."

* * *

"I can't just make you prom queen," April said as she faced Rebekah. "You have to have votes and you have none so far."

Rebekah squinted. "And can't you help out a friend."

"No, I can't." April said sharply. "And you can't make me, I'm drinking vervain tea now."

Rebekah shook her head, hurt. "I wasn't going to compelled you."

Holly vamp flash towards April and pinned her to the wall, her grip tightening. "Maybe I can't compel you, but I can torture you and then kill you, so make Rebekah prom queen or I have a gravestone with your name on it." She let April scurry away, scared. She turned to Rebekah. "You're welcome."

"What in bloody hell did you do?" Rebekah demanded. "I wasn't going to threaten her."

Holly smiled at her. "Oh, come on Rebekah, let's not fool ourselves, we both know that you're not a good person, so you're not going to win the cure by yourself, so just stand there, look pretty and let me do all the dirty work."

* * *

Holly took another sip of her punch and frowned when she saw Stefan, Bonnie, and Damon huddled in a circle and whispering to each other. "It's like Jeremy was there." Bonnie was saying. "I could talk to him, feel him."

"Bonnie," Stefan said. "That's what Silas does, you can't let him get to you."

Rebekah approached her. "What am I missing?"

"Silas is appearing to Bonnie as my dead brother which means that he still wants her to do the spell."

"So?" Rebekah shrugged. "The nice thing about having no emotions is that you don't fear your enemies on the other side."

"It's not my enemies, I'm worried about, it's people like Alaric, Elena and Jeremy. The Salvatore brothers are annoying as it is, if all those people come back to life, each and every one of them will try to get me to turn my emotions back."

April stood up on the podium and said nervously. "Ok, the ballots have been tallied and your new prom king and queen are Matt Donovan and Bonnie Bennett!"

Rebekah sighed, upset. "Bloody Bonnie Bennett of course."

Holly stared at Bonnie as April placed the prom queen crown on her head. "Everyone is so worried about Silas when there's an obvious solution. If we can't kill the immortal Silas, then kill his witch. I'll be right back."

* * *

Holly pulled back down the curtain and saw that Bonnie was removing her crown and setting it down on the table. She narrowed her eyes in Holly's direction. "What do you want?"

"For you to stop being such a problem." Holly managed to push her against the wall. Bonnie raised her head and Holly felt a terrible throbbing in her head.

"Bonnie!" Matt said as he pulled Holly away from Bonnie.

"I need to get out of here." Bonnie murmured.

Holly angrily watched as Bonnie left the tent, she turned her attention to April, who had just entered. She grabbed April by the throat. "You know, you really are annoying me." She threw April against the wall and she was pretty sure that she heard a crack as she left the tent once again in search of the Bennett witch.

* * *

"Bonnie," Silas was appearing to Bonnie as Jeremy and continued following her around wearing his tux. Trying to get her to listen to him. "Control Bonnie, control."

"Get out of my head!" Bonnie shouted. She suddenly felt the sharp fangs on her neck, she turned around and faced Holly who for some reason started choking on the blood. Bonnie raised her hand cracking Holly's spine. Holly started screaming.

"Bonnie, stop." Stefan said as he and Damon approached her. "You're killing Holly."

"Damon, it hurts." She murmured.

Damon faced Bonnie, desperately. "Damn it, Bonnie."

"I know what I'm doing."

Stefan shook his head. "That's the magic talking, this is your best friend."

Holly turned to her, there was blood coming from her nose. "Bonnie, please."

Bonnie seemed to snap back and Stefan put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Are you ok?" he asked.

Bonnie shook her head. "No, I'm not. I almost died, the shell of my best friend almost tried to kill me, none of this is ok."

Damon helped Holly up and whispered in her ear. "I've got you." He gently jabbed a needle in her side and watched as Holly fell asleep. He turned to Stefan. "Plan B?"

* * *

"So what's the plan?" Stefan asked as he and Damon stared at Holly who was unconscious in the Salvatore's cellar.

"I saw her tonight when Bonnie was hurting her, I saw her eyes. She thought that she was going to die. Holly was scared."

"Fear."

"Last time I checked one of those pesky human emotions."

Stefan nodded. "So Plan C make her life a living hell."

-End of Chapter Forty-


	41. She's Come Undone

**Chapter Forty One: She's Come Undone**

Holly closed the door of her car with a loud thud and was just walking across campus when Caroline, Bonnie, and Matt joined her.

Caroline gave her a weird side hug and practically shouted in her ear. "Holly, I got valedictorian, you can help me write my speech! We have to make every second count-"

"Wait," Holly stopped short. "I don't want to be here." Why would she want to be at school of all places? She couldn't think of a worst possible way to spend the day.

"What's wrong with you?" Damon came from behind her and tapped her shoulder. "Don't you want to be here, graduation parties, you know the drill."

Holly looked around and noticed that the schoolyard had disappeared. Holly looked around. "We're not really here are we? We're in my heard, get out of there."

"Relax," Damon said. "Do you remember what happened? Let me help you remember beautiful dress, sexy shoes, you trying to murder Bonnie. It was a good thing I was there to be your prince charming."

Holly narrowed her eyes. "You're starving me, you and Stefan are hoping that I might get my emotion back on, but I hate to break it to you. I'm never turning them back on. So go ahead, let's play this game. You know how much I love to win."

* * *

"You still have her locked inside that safe?" Stefan demanded as he went downstairs and found Damon breaking his concentration. "You've been in her head for over an hour."

Damon ignored him as he opened the door of the safe and Holly tumbled down, her hair was rumpled and she looked hungry. "Is the old you ready to come out and play?"

Holly, looked up at him, her eyes hollowed. "With you? No thanks, I think I'd rather keep starving."

Damon smiled tightly. "Ok, back in you go." He pushed her back inside and closed it again. "We can do this the nice way or we can do it the hard way, but either way neither of us are going to stop until you turn back your humanity, so I'm going to come back in a couple of hours, or a couple of months and see if you have changed your mind, because all we have is time."

* * *

Holly woke up slowly when she heard the gates being opened, she saw Stefan and Caroline looking down at her. "Good luck." Stefan murmured as Caroline closed the door.

Caroline slowly pulled out a bottle of blood from her pocket. "It doesn't have any vervain in it I swear, I just thought a little blood, might help you think straight."

Without a second moment of hesitation, Holly grabbed the bottle from her and drank it. It felt so good down her throat, it wasn't enough, but it had taken the edge off.

"For the record I don't agree with what they're doing, I mean I agree you should turn your switch back on, but making you suffer is not the way to do it," she offered her a small smile. "Come on Holly we've been friends forever, I know the old you is still there and I'm not going to give up on you."

Holly sighed as she rested he head back against the wall. "I thought you'd changed, but I guess I was wrong, you're still annoying, you're still clingy, and you still think you can save everyone when in reality you should be saving yourself. Maybe that's why Tyler left, I would rather be running away from Klaus than being a second more with you."

Caroline's lower lip trembled. "You're hurt, your lashing out, but we're about to graduate-"

"I don't care about graduation," Holly interrupted. "And why do you care about a diploma or not is not going to change who you really are a disgusting, control freak monster." Caroline looked hurt as she turned away. "But I will be more than happy to put you out of your misery."

The blood had given her energy and Holly used that energy to pounce on Caroline. "Holly." Caroline tried to pull her away but simply snapped her neck. "Do whatever you have to do." Caroline told Stefan. "I'll be upstairs."

* * *

Holly woke up with a start and realized that Damon had placed a fire extinguisher next to her. Holly was tied up to a chair, facing the main window. She looked down and saw that her ring was missing. "Looking for this." he showed her the ring. "Maybe you'll get it back when you learn not to be such a cruel, little bitch."

Holly smirked at him weakly. "If it means I can show my true colors, you can keep it." Stefan was standing by the window ready to pull the curtain apart. "Am I supposed to be scared of a little sun?"

"You will be," Stefan said. "And when you are focus on that emotion, it's the key to getting your humanity back."

Holly raised an eyebrow. "You're going to burn me, I'm hurt. But please do keep in mind, that if I do get my emotions back, I'm going to hate both of you."

Damon scoffed. "Worth the risk, whenever you're ready brother."

Stefan slowly peeled back the curtains so that the sun hit Holly's skin, it started to burn and Holly screamed. Within seconds her arms started bursting into flames and Damon put it out with the fire extinguisher.

"That makes you feel better does it? How about a little gratitude?" Damon asked impatiently. "Just turn your emotions back on and we can stop this."

Holly murmured something under her breath as she tried to pull away.

"What was that, sweetheart?"

"I'm going to destroy you."

"Bingo." Damon smiled. "There's a little rage, I do tend to make you pretty mad."

Stefan crouched down next to Holly and said gently. "Holly, we don't want to do this. You can make it stop, it's your choice."

Holly laughed. "Oh, please I know you enjoy it Stefan. I bet you're thinking about Elena every time you pull back that curtain, how you wish you could hurt her, how you want to cause her pain for sleeping with your brother. Pathetic, but I respect it."

Damon crouched down next to Stefan. "Wow that was downright vindictive, I guess we are making progress. I think we should hurry it up a bit."

Stefan returned to his positioned at the curtain.

Holly rolled her eyes. "Let me guess this is going to hurt you, more than it's going to hurt me."

"Look," Stefan said. "I know what you're going through. After all you've done, you're afraid to turn your emotions back on, so the only way to help you is to make the alternative hurt even worse."

* * *

Holly screamed as the sun continue to hit her skin, and almost sighed in relief when Stefan pulled back down the curtains. Damon looked at her. "You're going to thank me after this, after you turn it back on, you're going to realize that life with no emotions blew."

"You know what else blew, being in love with you!" she growled at Damon. "Every day being with you, trying to love you even though you hurt my family and friends, even though you tore my heart into pieces. That was the real torture, I was relieved when you broke up with me." Holly managed to pull off the restraints and she headed towards the window, she screamed as she started to burst into flames.

Stefan pushed her to the ground as Damon closed the curtains. Holly cough as her skin started to become normal again. "I knew you would never hurt me, you don't have the courage to. And for that, I'm grateful."

* * *

"So that went well," Stefan said sarcastically as Damon and him exited the house and walked around the gardens.

Damon took an angry shot of bourbon. "Every vampire turns it back on no problem. Why is she being so stubborn?" he threw the bottle on the ground.

"Because she has nothing to come back to." Stefan said. "Her family's gone, she hurt her friends, she destroyed her relationships-"

"No, she wants to come back, she's smart she knows we're not going to hurt her."

"Fine, then we'll get somebody else, someone who will hurt her."

"Who?" Damon frowned. "Katherine?"

Stefan nodded. "Think about it, she's the reason both Elena and Jeremy are dead, if anyone is going to provoke an emotion is her. Katherine was just abandoned by Elijah, if we invite her to come torture Holly, there's no way she'll say no."

* * *

Katherine opened the door to Holly's safe and saw Holly curled up into a ball. "Oh, honey you look awful." She said as she dragged her by her hair. "Your boyfriend invited me, he wants to know if you still have a heart." She pushed Holly against the wall of the safe, grasping her heart. "There it is, your bodyguards won't let me kill you, but I can rip you throat out so I don't have to listen to you whine."

Holly let out a small gasp as Katherine removed her hand. "But first satisfy my curiosity what did you tell Elijah?"

Holly's let out a deep breaths. "That's why you're here? He dumped you, didn't he? I never thought that Katherine Pierce would be so pathetic for some guy."

Katherine narrowed her eyes as she brushed her nails against Holly's cheek. "Tell me, what you said to him to turn him against me or I will feed your own eyeballs."

Holly gave her a weak smile. "I didn't have to say anything, look at you, you're so broken, damaged beyond repair, and not even Elijah who is fascinated with fixing stuff would want you."

Katherine glared at her. "Yeah, I've done some pretty horrible things to survive, but unlike you poor, delicate Holly I don't turn it off, I deal with it. You're even more pathetic than Elena!" she turned towards the doorway. "Though maybe you can change that."

* * *

"All that pain and torture, I've worked up quite a thirst." Katherine said as she served herself a glass of whisky and faced Damon. "Did you ever think that Holly would have been better off if she didn't meet you?"

Damon looked at her. "Are you trying to get a raise out of me? I like Holly, I despised you."

Katherine smiled at him. "Aw, so romantic, so doom to fail. You know as soon as she gets her emotions back on she'll return back to hating you."

"She's gone." Stefan said as he came into the room. "Holly's gone, find out what she did."

"Opps, did I forget to lock her in? Let's say I've lost interest in Holly's recovery. I rather see her go through an orphanage, imagine trying to come back from a spiral like that."

* * *

"I don't remember inviting you." Klaus said as he turned around and found Stefan and Damon. "What do you want?"

"Is Holly here?" Stefan asked.

"No." Klaus said. "Has she gone missing?"

Damon nodded, cursing under his breath. "And probably halfway to Paris by now."

"You know, I don't know about you, but I've taken quite a dislike for this new Holly. I don't like it, she's quite disagreeable and you fools aren't getting closer to turning back on her humanity."

"Join the club," Damon snapped. "I don't see you trying anything."

Klaus smirked at him. "Actually, I have a plan. Would you care to hear it?"

* * *

Holly was surrounded by a pile of bodies, her face and hands caked with blood, but it wasn't enough. She was so hungry and Damon and Stefan had starved her to the point that she almost desiccated.

"Hey, that's enough," Stefan said firmly as he prevented Holly from killing one of her latest victims.

"Stop it, love." Klaus said. "Or we might have to result to bigger consequences."

"I don't-"

"Shut up," Damon interrupted. "You're acting like a little spoiled brat you know that, you think we can't punish you."

"But we can love, and I know just the right thing that will make you tick," Klaus grasped Damon's heart from his chest. "Now turn your humanity back on or I swear I will rip his heart out."

"Do it," Holly scoffed. "I don't care."

Klaus shrugged as he pulled out Damon's heart and Damon fell to the floor dead.

Holly let out a gasp as she rushed towards him, the tears slowly falling. "No, no Damon . . . you're not. . ."

The vision of Damon's dead body seemed to disappear and it was replaced with Damon, very much alive, stroking her cheek. "No, I'm not dead."

"You got inside my head . . . Klaus got inside my head." Holly choked out. "You're not dead."

Damon rubbed away some of the stray tears. "No, I'm not feel that weight lifting off your chest, that's joy because I'm not dead. That's humanity. You're going to be ok."

Holly shook her head, visibly sobbing. "No."

"Holly-"

Holly stood up rubbing her hands anxiously through her hair. "What have I done? What did I do?" she looked around at the floor and saw the bodies. "I killed all these people. I almost killed Bonnie and Caroline . . . oh my god."

Stefan gripped her shoulders. "Hey, look at me, you're going to be ok, your emotions are overwhelming you. You're going to be ok, focus on one thing."

Holly shook her head. "No, I can't."

"Yes, you can, find that one thing inside you that makes you strong and let it in, let it in Holly. Find that one thing inside you that makes you want to live."

"I'm going to New Orleans," Klaus whispered to Damon. "I need to take care of some business, and I won't be back for a while. I see now that she never loved me like she loved you. Take care of her."

Damon nodded as he watched Stefan continued whispering encouraging words to Holly, and she seemed to be calming down. "I will."

* * *

Holly was staring numbly at the fire in front of her as she wrapped a blanket tighter around her.

Damon looked at her. "How are you feeling?"

"Better in a way, miserable in others." She admitted. "I did such horrible things, and I said such evil things. But I also learned that we need to let things matter and that some things can't be undone and I need to do them."

Stefan frowned as he handed her a cup of coffee. "Holly what you need to do is rest and take it easy for a few days."

Holly shook her head. "I don't have time to rest. I need to get ready."

Damon gripped her wrist. "What are you talking about?"

"Isn't it obvious, there is one person that is linked to all out misfortunes? She turned you guys into vampires, she killed me, she turned Caroline into a vampire, and she killed my only family. It all comes back to her, Katherine. Stefan, told me to focus on one thing and I did I focused on hate, and I hate her so much."

Damon and Stefan exchanged glances. "I don't think that's what he meant."

"Holly, Katherine isn't worth your time, even if you spend five minutes hating her she wins."

Holly shook her head. "Not if I kill her."

-End of Chapter Forty One-


	42. The Walking Dead

**Chapter Forty Two: The Walking Dead**

Holly tried not to lose her patience as she handed Caroline another stamp. They were both having lunch at The Grill getting their graduation announcements in order, or she was actually helping Caroline get her announcements in order since Holly didn't have anyone.

Caroline looked over her envelopes. "You're already done? I'm only on my second batch."

Holly showed her a single envelop. "We have family friends, other than that no one cares that Orphan Holly is graduating and neither do I. What's the point I'm going to be 17 forever."

Caroline shrugged. "I know you feel that way now, but once you get over this hating Katherine phase-"

"It's not a phase, Caroline." Holly insisted. "Do you know where she is? Because if you do, you need to tell me."

Caroline pulled away. "I don't Holly, calm down."

* * *

Caroline, Matt, and Rebekah were near the bar inside the Grill a storm had caught them by surprise and Caroline decided to finish her announcements inside. Caroline looked towards Holly's direction where she was angrily throwing darts. "Someone needs to talk to her, she's fuming."

"Drink," Rebekah said as she handed her a shot glass. "You're putting everyone on edge. So what's the deal, I'm new to this whole no emotions thing?"

"Well, I'll make it simple for you," Holly said as she tightened her hand around the dart. "My biggest goal in my life right now is to find Katherine and tear every pretty curl from her head and kill her."

"So you're emotions are on, they are just dialed to rage."

Holly gave her an exasperated sigh. "Look, Rebekah I'm not really in the mood to explain the whole vamp 101 concept, so unless you have some information about Katherine I don't care."

"Well, what about us?" Caroline asked her. "Do you care about us? Or did you mean every mean thing you said when your humanity was off."

Holly hesitated before responding. "No, I was angry, I was a mess, but no Caroline I didn't mean those things and I shouldn't have said them and I'll make it up to your later, once I kill Katherine."

The power went off and everyone started looking around. "I'll call my mom maybe she knows what's going on."

* * *

Stefan, Damon, and Holly parked their cars in front of the high school where Bonnie and Katherine were. They needed to stop Bonnie from completing the expression triangle and they hadn't managed to stop Holly from coming.

"Where's Caroline?" Stefan asked.

"Looking for Bonnie," Holy told him. "I think you and Caroline should look inside, Damon and I will look outside." Once Stefan left, Holly grasped Damon's wrist. "Where's Katherine? If someone knows where she is, it's you."

Damon looked disgusted. "Do you not notice the end of the world crap that is going on right now? I could list a hundred reasons why I hate Katherine, but right now we need to find Bonnie. If they are completing expression, they must be together."

Holly unwillingly followed him inside of the school. His cell phone rang, it was Stefan. "They're not there. Which is weird because this is the center of the triangle."

Damon frowned. "Maybe, we're at the wrong elevation, maybe it's the basement? I'm pretty sure there's a door."

"There is one." Holly confirmed. "Off the boiler room."

Damon repeated the message and hung up, Damon turned back to Holly. "You're staying here. We really need to stop Bonnie and if you get all crazy and psychopath-"

"Is that really only the reason?" she interrupted sharply.

"Well, no." Damon admitted. "Because Stefan is right, Holly killing Katherine won't solve a damn thing and I know you, you'll feel guilty for it afterwards. She's strong, she's crafty, and you'll die."

Holly narrowed her eyes as she faced him and quickly snapped his neck. "It would be worth it."

* * *

Katherine was walking down one of the tunnels trying to not let her anxiety get to her. Bonnie had succeed, she had put the veil back down. She heard footsteps. "Silas is that you? Come and get me." She felt a sharp jab in her stomach as she turned around.

Holly was staring right at her. "Hello, Katherine."

Katherine glared at her. "I let you out of your cage and this is how you thank me?"

"Now I have a way better way." Holly grabbed Katherine by her curls and pressed her against the hot pipes. "You have made my life a living hell, but now I'm going to do something about it, I'm going to kill you."

"No, wait, please-"

"I'll see you in hell, Katherine." Holly felt herself being pushed to the ground. "Stefan!"

Katherine smirked. "Thanks for the save, handsome."

"Get out of here before I kill your myself!"

Katherine arched an eyebrow. "Really, I'm your biggest problem right now?"

"How could you save her?" Holly demanded furiously. "She was as good as dead."

"And so was Bonnie." Stefan shot back. "Bonnie link herself to Katherine, if you killed her Bonnie would be dead too."

Holly cocked her head. "I almost killed Bonnie?"

Stefan's face softened. "You did. You need to understand, Holly that all of this rage that you're feeling is just a distraction. You need to let it go, forgive, forgive yourself. Whatever you need to do, but I can assure you that killing Katherine won't stop your problems."

Holly nodded, slowly. "I understand now, thank you Stefan."

* * *

Holly numbly made her way to the cemetery, she hadn't been here in forever. She stared at the tombstones that looked recent-Elena and Jeremy Gilbert, Sister, Brother, and friend.

"You forgot doppelganger and hunter." Holly said softly. "I really wanted to kill Katherine for revenge . . . but there's no point. I'm sorry guys, I'm sorry if I ever failed you, I'm sorry Elena, I'm sorry Jeremy."

She heard footsteps behind her and she turned around and saw Kol.

"Pity about your siblings, I can't say I'm sad, I guess it's just you and me then." Kol smirked as he kicked her across the face. "Now this is what I miss, two people connecting."

Holly coughed. "I haven't done anything to you, Kol."

"I know that darling," Kol whispered. "But your siblings have, but since they are dead-"he raised his hand and caught a stake. "Jeremy Gilbert."

Jeremy was behind Holly holding a crossbones. "How many times do I have to kill you?"

Before Kol could opened his mouth Stefan came behind him and snapped his neck.

Holly manned to stand up and hugged him quickly, she could feel him. "You're alive, Jeremy you're alive."

"I'm here," Jeremy whispered. "I'm here."

* * *

Holly dried the leftover tears from her face as she tried to put attention to what Damon had just said. "Bonnie turned Silas into stone?"

"Yep," Damon smirked. "We'll drop Silas's body in the ocean, Bonnie will put the veil back up and everything will go back to normal."

Holly nodded. "As normal as things can get around here." She hesitated. "Damon about what I said to you . . . I didn't mean it."

"No, I deserved everything you said to me, you were right." Damon blurted out. "I shouldn't have slept with Elena . . . it wasn't fair to either of you and it was stupid. But you should know that I love you Holly and I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you."

"Damon-"

Damon shook his head. "You don't have to say anything right now, go to Jeremy, you need to say goodbye to him and we can talk later."

Holly nodded. "Thank you."

* * *

Bonnie woke up slowly, slightly confused to where she was and trying to put back the pieces. She had been trying to bring Jeremy back to life using Expression, even though Grams had warned her not to. So what had happened?

"I'm sorry, Bonnie." Grams said gently. "The spell was too much."

Bonnie slowly turned and saw her body of the floor. She gave a choked whispered. "I'm dead."

-End of Forty Two-


	43. Graduation

**Chapter Forty Three: Graduation**

Jeremy, Alaric, and Holly were a strange sight as they sat around the cemetery eating burgers, and drinking soda and bourbon from the Grill. Jeremy and Alaric munched on their burgers happily.

"Oh my god." Alaric moaned.

"Mm." Jeremy nodded.

Holly smiled. "So I'm guessing there are no hamburgers at the other side."

Alaric shook his head as he drank from the bourbon bottle. "You have no idea how much I miss this and I never thought I'd see that pretty smile of yours again."

Holly's smile fade. "I did some pretty horrible things before and after, Jeremy I didn't want to bring it up last night, but where is Elena, the veils down and she was a doppelganger so she should be here. I need to apologize, I said such horrible things-"

Jeremy and Alaric exchanged glances. "Holly, if she isn't here that probably means that she found peace." Jeremy said. "But she knew how sorry you were and she was sorry too." He squeezed her hand. "No tears, if Caroline is right, we only have until tonight, we need a no crying rule."

Her cell phone started ringing. "It's the Grill, it must be Matt. Hello, Matt, where-"

"Hello Holly," said an entirely different voice. "Is your old, dead friend Conner. You remember me?"

Holly gulped. "What do you want?"

"We want Silas and we want the cure."

Holly shrugged. "I don't know where they are, so I guess I can't help you."

Conner looked around the Mystic Grill and saw that it was filled with families. "Well, you know who's going to need help? Grandma Jones and Auntie Susie and all the people that are in town for graduations." Holly looked toward Alaric and he nodded, indicating that he would do something about Conner. "Everyone is here, you either give me what I want or they die."

"Please don't hurt anyone. I'll find Silas and I'll get the cure."

"Good." Conner said. "Get it done."

* * *

Bonnie was walking down the school corridors already dressed for graduation and holding her cap. Katherine smoothly joined her, obviously pissed that her alliance with Bonnie hadn't gotten her anywhere. "I don't think red is really your color Bon-Bon."

"And here I was hoping that the ghost of someone would have killed you already."

"Funny that you should mention death, because I'm here to collect that immortality that you promised me."

"Funny that you think that you're still going to get it, I told you Quetsiyah is the only one that knows the spell, she didn't show up you're out of luck."

Katherine stood in front of Bonnie, preventing her from going forward. "Here's the thing Bonnie, I have to agree with you because I have been feeling out of luck lately but you know who has been getting all of my luck. The sister of my dead doppelganger sweet, little Holly. Holly is living a better life than I am, so if I don't get that immortality I may have to get rid of her all together."

Bonnie narrowed her eyes. "Did you just threatened my friend? I can crush your skull without even thinking."

"Go ahead." Katherine simpered. "Make your move."

* * *

Holly knew that she couldn't avoid talking to Damon and honestly she wanted to talk to him, but she didn't know what to say. She entered Damon's room and was glad that he was still there. "Hey, can we talk?"

Damon nodded. "Sure." He handed her a little box and inside was the cure. "Consider it a graduation present."

Holly smiled. "I can't take it Damon and I don't even want it. I like being a vampire, besides someone else deserves the cure. Not to mentions the hunters are willing to kill to get it."

Damon looked over his shoulder and saw Jeremy lurking. "Are you just going to stand there or are you going to help a brother out?"

"Look, Holly you're my sister and I love you." Jeremy said. "No matter what happens."

Damon scoffed. "How come even when you're dead you're the bane of my existence. Come on we don't need the cure for Silas, the guy is a statue." He let out a small groan.

Holly frowned. "What's wrong." She saw that Damon's shoulder was slightly bleeding. "Damon, take off your shirt."

Damon scoffed. "Holly, there are children present."

Holly rolled her eyes as she tugged down Damon's shirt and saw that he had a bullet shape wound on his shoulder. "Damon why isn't this healed?"

"Because the bullet was laced with werewolf venom." Damon winced. "The hunters are dicks."

Holly shook her head. "We need to get Klaus in New Orleans, we need his blood, and that wound will kill you."

"What about the cure?" Jeremy spoke up.

Holly smiled as she turned to him. "He's right, if you're human, the werewolf venom won't hurt you."

"I thought you were waiting to give it to a person that actually deserves the cure." Damon said sarcastically. "Looks like the hunter Vaugh is awake." Without a second look back, he went towards the living room and threw Vaugh the cure. "Here."

"What the hell are you doing?" Stefan demanded.

"Digging up Silas." Damon said as if it should have been obvious. "You coming Vaugh?"

* * *

Holly was pacing nervously around the living room as she glanced towards Stefan. "We have to do something if those hunters give the cure to Silas-"

Stefan shook his head. "Damon is stalling the hunter, we haven't had time to bury Silas yet."

Holly continued frowning. "Ok, we're stalling the hunters, but Damon is still dying. I've tried calling Klaus, but he won't answer me and I pissed him off so I don't really blame him."

"It was one bullet and it was only lace, I will go to New Orleans myself and I will beg Klaus if I have too,"

"Then it's settled," Jeremy said as he stood at the doorway holding Holly's red cap and gown. "You're going to your graduation, Mom and Dad would kill you if there wasn't a photo."

"Jeremy, no-"Holly shook her head.

"Holly, do this for me please, for our family."

After a second, Holly grabbed the cap and gown. "All right, let's go graduate."

* * *

"Klaus, I swear I will be your slave if you come back here and save Damon's life, just please hurry." Holly groaned as she and Stefan approached the stadium.

"No luck, huh." Stefan said.

She shook her head as they joined their circle of friends, Holly couldn't help but feel awkward and ashamed, especially at how she had treated them. "We're here." Holly said as she looked at the group that consisted of Matt, Bonnie, Caroline, and Stefan. "And I just wanted to apologize for everything, I don't deserve such wonderful friends like you."

"Aw, group hug!" Caroline squealed as the five of them hugged. "We're here, we did it."

Holly couldn't describe the feelings that seems to want to explode out of her chest. They were graduating. She was finally happy. Times were about to change. She saw Stefan frowning. "What's wrong?"

"It's Damon." Stefan gulped. "He send me a text, Vaugh shot him a few more times, Alaric is with him, and he's dying. He's refusing to take the cure."

Holly gulped. "No, that can't happen." She pulled out her phone. "I'm going to call Klaus-"Holly suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head as dozens of witch's approached them.

"Remember us, Caroline?" Aja demanded. She was one of the witches that Caroline had killed to save Bonnie's life. Suddenly Aja's head rolled to the ground and Klaus was standing behind her smirking and holding an extra cap. "Who's next? I can do this all day."

* * *

"How did you get here so fast?" Holly asked Klaus once Klaus had delivered a small flask with blood to give to Damon. They were standing in the empty school field.

"I was already on my way." Klaus said as he pulled out a crumbled piece of paper. "You did sent me this graduation announcement did you not?"

Holly blushed. "Yeah, I guess that's was my lame way of saying I'm sorry. I did and I told you some very rude things to you Klaus, I played with your feelings and I shouldn't have. I'm sorry and thank you for helping me turn my humanity back on."

"My pleasure, I like this you better." Klaus replied. "I was thinking of offering you a first class ticket to join me in New Orleans and come live with me at my home, but we both know that you heart belongs to someone else."

"Klaus-"

Klaus shook his head. "Damon Salvatore is the love of your life. For now. But Holly, I'm willing to wait, and I will wait for you until the time is right and your are ready to join me."

Holly smiled at him sadly, "Thank you Klaus."

Klaus kissed her cheek softly. "Congratulations, Holly."

* * *

Damon was just putting on his shirt when Holly arrive, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Are you feeling better?"

"Why you're going to give me a feel-better kiss?"

Holly slapped him as hard she could across the face. "Next time you scared me to death I will rip out your heart." Without another word she went back to the living room where Alaric, Stefan, and Lexi were. "Has anyone seen Jeremy?"

"He went to see Bonnie," Alaric told her. "He'll be back later."

Holly nodded as she folded her hands together. "Stefan, can I talk to you?" Stefan nodded as he joined her in the hallway.

"What's up?"

"I just wanted to apologize," Holly said. "For everything that I put you through, for all the mean things I said to you. You never gave up on me and I want to thank you, I want you to have this." She gently put the cure is his hand.

"No, Holly-"

"Stefan," Holly said gently. "You want to be human, this is you dream, you deserve this. You deserve to be happy. Be happy Stefan, it's yours."

* * *

Holly returned to the main living room and saw that the living room was deserted and now there was only Damon standing there and watching the fireplace.

"I wanted to apologize."

"Good."

"Hold it, I said I wanted too," Damon narrowed his eyes at her. "I realized that I'm not sorry, I would rather die than have taken the cure to be human, I rather die right now only to die when I'm old and sick and miserable you're still you, because I love you too much to put you through that and I don't want to hurt you again. I love you, Holly Gilbert."

Holly kissed him quickly, rubbing her index finger against his cheek. "I love you too, Damon and I'm willing to give you, us a second chance. I love you too much not too."

Damon squeezed her hand. "This time, we'll get it right and it will be forever."

* * *

While Stefan went to get rid of Silas along with Lexi, Alaric and Damon said their goodbyes, Holly decided to go to the school to say goodbye to Jeremy since he hadn't come back. She pushed the door of the boiler room open. "Jeremy? Bonnie are you guys in there?"

"Well, well speaking of unfinished business." Kol looked like he was about to pounced on her, but when Holly opened her eyes, he was gone. With satisfaction, she realized that the veil must be up, but now she had another problem. Katherine Pierce.

Katherine smirked at her. "Happy graduation, cupcake."

* * *

Katherine threw Holly against the locker doors harshly. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Holly demanded.

"Well, I'm having a bad day," Katherine growled as she started choking her. "It all started when Bonnie denied me my Silas like immortality."

"Of course," Holly said sarcastically. "Because Katherine Pierce deserves better." She managed to pull off a locker door and slap Katherine across the face.

Katherine grabbed the edge of the locker. "I deserved it, I never had a graduation, or a prom, or you know a life, but you did." She knocked her head against Holly's. "You have everything and it's not because you're a good little girl that deserves happiness it's because you stole mine!"

"I stole your happiness? You killed my siblings!"

Katherine shrugged. "I'll admit that was nasty."

Holly tried to punch Katherine, but she was too fast for her and she knocked her against the wall. Katherine broke off a mop and started hitting her with it. "I have nothing, but I'm about to change that." She kicked Holly across the face.

"Talk about Déjà vu," Holly coughed. "You're trying to kill me again."

Katherine smirked as she digged the stake in Holly's throat. "But this time I will."

"_You deserve this more than anyone." Holly insisted._

_Stefan shook his head as he gave her back the cure. "I appreciate it, Holly, but I got the cure for Elena. Slice she's gone now, you should keep it, but thank you for thinking about me."_

Katherine pulled out the stake and was just about to stab it in Holly's heart. "Bye bye little girl."

Holly hastily pulled out the cure from her coat and jabbed it inside Katherine's mouth, crushing Katherine's jaw. Katherine's eyes widened as she fell next to Holly.

A small smirk appeared on Holly's face. "Enjoy humanity, Katherine."

* * *

Stefan stopped in front of the quarry and numbly stared down at the lake where they would supposed to dump Silas.

"Don't bother," Silas as Elena said. "I'm not there."

"Silas," Stefan frowned. "You were stone, I saw you, the spell worked."

Silas smiled. "That's the funny things about spells, once the witch that cast the spell dies, the spell no longer works."

"Bonnie is not dead!"

"It doesn't matter now does it? I created the immortality spell, 2000 years ago, so nature had to create a balance. A version of me that could die-a shadow self, a doppelganger."

Stefan stared at Elena/Silas. "So this is your true face? Another Petrova doppelganger."

"Not exactly." A second later, Silas looked exactly like him. "Hello my shadow self." He stabbed Stefan in the gut with a stake. "Do you know what it's like to starve for 2000 years?"

Stefan whimpered in pain as Silas quickly locked him in the safe and threw him towards the quarry and into the freezing water.

-End of Chapter Forty Three-


	44. Redemption

**Epilogue: Redemption**

It took Holly a few minutes to catch her breath as she looked at the fallen doppelganger. Katherine was no longer a vampire, she was human and Holly was alive and a vampire. Karma was a bitch.

Holly slowly stood up and looked at her. Most people would kill Katherine right then and there, especially since Katherine had tried to kill Holly and yes Holly had wanted to desperately kill Katherine for the past few days, but all that rage seemed to have disappeared.

It seemed that she had made peace with it and it didn't seem right to kill Katherine now that she was human, bitch or not.

Holly took one last glance at her. "Maybe there's a part of you that can be redeemed."

**The End**

So this marks the end of _Destiny_, thank you so much for your support! The sequel will be called _Deadly Kisses_ and I will post it as soon as I can. In the sequel there will be no more love triangle only Holly/Damon.


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